THE world today is moving fast. Many things pass us by these days in the blink of an eye. Things that we thought could not be done are actually being done nowadays.
Today, with only a click, a businessman can promote his products and services worldwide. He can also attend meetings with his counterparts without even having to move a step. This is what we call the information and technological age.
In this fast moving world, competition is well evident. Those with more knowledge and experience in various areas will have a greater chance to succeed.
A knowledgeable person will have the necessary information, skills, and positive thinking ready for any challenges and know what he wants in his life.
All this can only be achieved if we are able to get and manipulate the knowledge that is available. However, the question is how to get the knowledge?
Knowledge is gained through many ways. Some of the ways would be by looking, hearing, experiencing and reading. Among these ways, reading has the highest benefit. It is cheap, easy, convenient and relaxing.
In Islam, the first word of revelation is Iqra’ which literally means read. Allah did not command Muhammad to straight away preach to the people of Mecca but he was first ordered to read.
In other words, the Prophet was first asked to seek knowledge. This shows that reading is important as it is the proven way to acquire knowledge.
However, the maximum benefit of reading depends on the reading materials. We can read a lot of things but that does not mean it is beneficial for enhancement of knowledge.
What about the reading habit in Malaysia?
In 1996, the National Library conducted a survey on the reading profile of Malaysians. The survey showed that the literacy rate among Malaysians was 93%.
However, Malaysians only read two books a year. Their favourite reading materials were newspapers, books, magazines and comics.
When asked the reasons for not reading, they either said ‘not interested’ or ‘no time to read’.
Now, let us compare these results to that of other countries.
Annually, the Mainichi Shinbunsha newspaper conducts a survey on public reading habits in Japan. The 2001 survey showed that 60% of the respondents read books and 80% read magazines.
Generally, Japanese read two books per month.
The Canadian Statistics Homepage showed that in 1998, 82% and 71% of Canada’s total population read newspapers and magazines respectively. Sixty-one per cent of Canadians read books and the majority of them read at least a book per month.
In China, according to a 1999 nationwide survey of reading habits conducted by the China Publishing Science Research Institute, respondents ranked books fourth – after television, newspapers and magazines – as their preferred media.
The benefits of reading are well known. But reading alone will not be beneficial for the ummah. Willingness to share the knowledge gained through reading is vital. One of the ways to share this is through writing. Thus, we must also instil the writing habit.
Recently, a local newspaper reported that only 200 to 400 titles of scholarly writings were published in a year. This is very low compared to Western countries, China and India. In these countries, more than a thousand titles are published in one year.
Writing is not alien to Islam. In Surah al-‘Alaq (96), verses 3 and 4, Allah says, “…Proclaim! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful. He who taught (the use of) the pen…”.
There is also an Arabic proverb that says “knowledge is like a captured animal and writing it is like a rope that ties the knowledge up”. Thus, to ensure that knowledge lasts forever, we must write.
The explanation above clearly shows reading and writing habits are imperative to the process of acquiring knowledge, as they complement each other.
All Muslims must enhance their reading and writing habits. When we read and write consistently, these habits will directly ‘infect’ others, like the members of our family and then society as a whole.