IQRA! Read!

I have slain dragons. I have hunted vampires. I have debated with Aristotle and Plato. I had tea and biscuits with Jose Rizal, in Barcelona, while discussing patriotism and politics. I have seen a Martian sunset. I witnessed Thomas Jefferson draft the Declaration of Independence. I battled Orcs and Goblins alongside comrades who were dwarves, hobbits, and elves.

In short, I am an avid reader.

My life has been greatly enriched by my habit of reading. I properly refer to the way I read books as a habit because it is something that has been deeply ingrained in me. I finish, at the minimum, one medium length book a week and, more often than not, I’m jumping between three or four books at any one time.

I can honestly say that this habit is one of the best things that I learned from my father. As a young boy, my father would give me books to read and, afterwards, I had to do what he termed a “book report.” Essentially, a book report was a kind of exam: I’d tell him what I learned from the book  the plot, characters, insights, etc.  and he would test my mastery of the book by asking searching questions. Needless to say, I was taught at an early age to properly comprehend what I read. Although doing book reports for one’s father might seem daunting, I actually found it fun and it was a great opportunity to bond with my dad. It was my father’s way of sharing his passion for books with me and, thus, early on in my life, my father turned me into a bona fide bookworm.

Harold Bloom, noted author and literary critic, in his book, How to Read and Why, makes the case for reading as a therapeutic and empowering experience:

“There is no single way to read well. Though there is prime reason why we should read. Information is endlessly available to us; where shall wisdom be found? If you are fortunate, you encounter a particular teacher who can help, yet finally you are alone, going on without further mediation. Reading well is one of the great pleasures that solitude can afford you, because it is, at least in my experience, the most healing of pleasures. It returns you to otherness, whether in yourself or in friends, or in those who may become friends. Imaginative literature is otherness, and as such alleviates loneliness. We read not only because we cannot know enough people, but because friendship is so vulnerable, so likely to diminish or disappear, overcome by space, time, imperfect sympathies, and all the sorrows of familial and passional life…”

Aside from nurturing my intellectual development, perhaps my father encouraged me to read because of our Muslim faith. My father was a devout Muslim and, interestingly, the very first word that was divinely revealed to prophet Muhammad was “iqra,” which is the Arabic word for “read.” The English translation of this first revelation states as follows:

“Read! In the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created,

“Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood:

“Read! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful,

“He Who taught (the use of) the Pen,

 “Taught man that which he knew not.”

The fact that Islam places such a huge value on reading and knowledge cannot be overemphasized. There is an Islamic saying that the ink of a scholar is holier than the blood of a martyr, which for me embodies the concept of the powerful positive effect that reading and education can have on society. And history has proven this to be true  while martyrs can, by their sacrifice, improve their communities in the short and even medium term  great books and the potent ideas contained in them influence the world for eternity.

Sadly, many children and young people today have cut themselves off from these potent and empowering ideas by foregoing books in favor of the internet and video games. We see children toting their play stations and mobile devices instead of books; in cafes, young people surf the net instead of being nourished by the insights of Tolstoy or Aristotle.

Instead of facing  and reading  books, young people turn to Facebook. While there are some medical studies that claim that there are positive mental effects from playing video games, I don’t believe that any amount of gaming, social networking, or surfing the Net can ever equal the intellectual and moral growth that can occur by simply reading a good book.

Even in our universities and colleges, the focus on the humanities has decreased sharply and so we churn out highly technically-skilled graduates who don’t even remember the plot of Hamlet or have never heard of Mark Twain or Charles Dickens. Our graduates can design complicated computer programs, perform complex medical procedures, and prepare the perfect business plan but when they are eventually confronted by the ultimate questions of the purpose and meaning of life, of issues of deep knowledge and spirituality, they lack the tools that great literature can provide them to find the answers.

Times, social tastes and mediums may be changing, which is all fine with me. However, cutting off young people from the stream of ideas, stories, characters, and personalities that can be found in the great books is not only a disservice to them but also insures that we create a generation of the intellectually malnourished.

This, of course, needn’t be the case. Part of the solution to this intellectual and even spiritual malnourishment needn’t be complex; it need not involve a complete re-engineering of our education system. As parents, friends, and family, we can simply encourage the youth to read. It can be as basic as giving our children books as gifts or rewards instead of money or toys.

For instance, my sons, Santi and Mike, prefer going to bookstores more than toy stores. Moreover, leading by example and taking the time to read and discuss literature with the younger members of our family is the best and most effective way to teach them the joy of reading. Just like what my father did for me. Book reports are optional.

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E-mail adel.tamano@yahoo.com.