The Mulla Aghar Memorial Library contains an expanding collection of over 11 000 books, journals, magazines, multimedia items, and learning games. The primary aim of the library is to be a central hub of information about Shi’a Ithna-Ashari Islam. Within this line, the library contains many books which fall into the traditional fields of learning such as Qur’an and tafsir (exegesis), hadith (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad and his family), ethics, theology, jurisprudence, spirituality, philosophy, early Islamic history, Islamic science, and poetry & literature.  These materials are authored both in Islamic countries and in Western Academia. There are also materials on related subjects such as other branches of Islam, comparative religion and spirituality, self-development books written from a variety of perspectives, books on world history, current events, biographical works, and materials about the Khoja ethnic community. There is also a prominent “Children’s library” section with a collection of almost 1600 items. Housed in North America, the books in the collection are primarily in the English language, however, a portion of the collection is dedicated to books in other languages including Arabic, Farsi, Urdu, Gujarati, Swahili, French and others. The library is open to the public to browse materials and utilize the study space but checkout of non-reference materials requires a library membership.

MARC membership is available for a cost of $20/year plus payment of any outstanding fines. It is considered a family membership but the primary cardholder must be an adult. Membership entitles one to checkout a maximum of 10 items at a time for a period of 3 weeks at a time. Renewals are permitted up to two times when no requests are in place for the given item. To obtain a membership, please visit the library.

In addition to the bookshelf section, the library contains study carrels, sofas, work tables, a study room and a seminar space.

The seminar space is available for rental to groups for the purpose of holding classes, information sessions, study circles, presentations, workshops, movie screenings and other related events. To obtain more information about this process, please download our user rules and regulations form here or contact the library. A written form must accompany any formal booking and is available here.

The library provides the following multimedia services:

• Complementary wifi access for guests (guests are required to sign a form that outlines permissible and non-permissible activities)
• A laptop for in-library use by visitors (deposit required which is returned at time of laptop return)
• A Khoja Heritage touch-screen terminal which provides access to MARC’s heritage collection of Gujarati literature.
• A catalogue workstation in the library where visitors can search the library catalogue database
• A group-study/media-viewing room equipped with a TV and blue-ray player.
• A media recording studio (please speak to our staff if interested)

The library is open for use whenever MARC is open to the public. Please scroll down to see our open hours.