For Your Own Sake, .. Read!

"Iqra'" the first word which was received by Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) from Jibrail (Gabriel?) which every Muslim in this whole wide world knows the meaning of - Read!
And let me just share the translation of the 5 Ayats from Al-Alaq :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

"Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists) man from a clot (a piece of coagulated blood). Read! For your Lord is the Most Generous, Who has taught the use of the pen, Who has taught man what he knows not."

So, the first thing that is taught in Islam is to read - and a little further elaboration - learn, be thirsty of knowledge or was it hungry for knowledge? Whatever, it means learn as many as possible for knowledge is very vast. I believe, every other religion encourages its followers to gain knowledge and one of the many ways into knowledge is non other, than through readings.



And why do I sound a little emotional? Well, it is sad for me to learn that in our beautiful, developing country the reading interest of our fellow countrymen is not as high. Though our literacy rate is reaching 88.7% (as stated in The World Fackbook from www.cia.gov - the study is quite recent though the exact date was not stated in the page), that does not reflect any momentum in our reading habits. Enough said.

I mentioned once in one of my entries that my parents encouraged us to read at a very young age. Though they are not in excess of cash nor cash comes easily to them, they make sure that our house is never lack of reading materials. And they read, too. And, it may sound like "torture' but other than just reading books, they also encouraged us to read, yes, read dictionary, encyclopaedia not forgetting going through the Atlas as well. But, thanks to them, until today our thirst for knowledge never cease to exist - and it varies too. I can be interested in cooking at the same time anatomy. And I guessed that's part of the reason why I took Biology as one of my subjects while pursuing my Degree in Bus. Admin.

But, my parents make reading interesting - my Dad especially will supply us (I'm not sure about my brothers & sister but at least this is true in my case) with some candy or raisins to accompany us while reading. And where are they when we are stuck in front of the books? They are beside us, reading as well.

Such, I know for a fact that the best way to arouse our children's interest in reading is to read as well. To give them that first hand example - but of course, you have to be selective in your reading materials. For my children, other than the normal reading session (we are doing it at home) and fortnightly library session, one afternoon is to go through one country in the Atlas and another to find one word in the Dictionary, understand the meaning and using it at the right time. And, like us, my children have books piled at their sides of the bed as well.

Oh yes, BTW, I read somewhere that being parents give you the excuse to catch up on children's books. I don't know about the others but, I sure am taking advantage - Let me share with you a secret - I'm on the last chapter of "8 O'Clock Tales" by Enid Blyton and looking forward to finish "The Mystery of Banshee Tower" also by the same Author! Hehehe....
The home library here? Ours is quite similar - the understairs kind of mini library - how I wish it could be expanded. My current read other than the above 2? "Collected Short Stories Volume 2 by W. Somerset Maugham" and well, don't laugh, "Engineering Economic Analysis" by Newman, Eschenbach & Lavelle :-D

Humor aside, I do wish something can be done to increase the reading interest of our fellow countrymen (and women). Though some steps have been taken by some authorities like organising Reading Campaigns, International Book Fair, Competitions, Workshops (writing workshops), I hope as an individual I can do more to ensure that this effort is continuing. Let me think of something. Maybe through my blog, I can do something that can create interest so that more & more Malaysians can include reading as part of the way of life - oh yes..!

(Sources of images : Al-Quran from www.islamispeace.org.uk; sad flower from www.dailyencouragement.net; books tower from www.rtable.net; peppermints from www.conventionbags.com; sunmaid raisins from en.wikipedia.org and understairs home library from www.endlessbookshelf.net)