Read!

In many a Muslim's mind, these words immediately bring up an image of the Prophet Muhammad sitting in the cave. A figure robed in light holds out a document to him, "Read!" Deeply shaken, the Prophet replies, "I am not a reader."

Ever since, great weight was given to literacy in the Muslim world. The Prophet himself took steps to promote reading and writing among the men and women of Madinah at a time when there was little more to read than the Qur'an. Today we take it for granted that we read newspapers, letters, notes, announcements, fiction, text books, manuals, encyclopedias; we read for the information, to get food for thought, to analyze challenges, just for fun.

The more we feel embarrassed to hear about the rate of illiteracy in Muslim countries and feel tempted to turn a blind eye to a new form of illiteracy when we let modern mass media, especially television, capture our minds in a way that diverts from patiently collecting and differentiating details of our information intake, evaluating them critically and considering their various aspects in their context. We find it shocking to become aware of the extent to which ideas, questions and insights expressed in the 1400 years of our history have been sidelined and even forgotten: a scholar recently described a vision of these books, neglected and ignored by their human readers, having a conference on contemporary burning issues among themselves in the library - open, of course, for all whose interest has not yet completely vanished.

"Read!," I was told some time ago, "refers to the Qur'an." Well, Qur'an literally means "that which is to be read". It is probably the most frequently read book in the world - although I am well aware of many Muslims who keep it on their top bookshelf wrapped in seven layers of silk, only to take it down when a family member died or a daughter gets married. Most Muslim children are taught, in the most literal sense, to read it. Many read it without intellectually understanding it in order to get the blessings that come from it. Does that mean that the obligation is fulfilled, that we can now go back to business as usual?

"Iqra'!" can also be translated as, "Proclaim!" Taking this aspect literally and exclusively, some eager Muslims then take certain concepts from the Qur'an and proceed to invite others to act upon them equally literally and exclusively. I came across extreme cases where the Qur'an was treated like a cook book or a manual for some electric appliance, without considering the context or possible deeper meaning of the text, not to mention an understanding of the problems to be solved by the actions and the environment they were to take place in. Suggestions to stop and think are brushed aside with the concern that thinking could lead to doubts and errors. Well, knowledge without actions is no more than dry theory. But then activism without knowledge can be badly beside the point.

But let us at least read the rest of the passage. We are to read in the name of our Rabb. Rabb, most often translated as "Lord", actually describes someone who creates, sustains, educates. Thus God is here described as creating human beings from embryos, shapeless clusters of germ cells that gradually evolve into something with a human shape that is then born and grows up. We are also told that God teaches "by means of the pen", by intellectual processes, and the knowledge is not described in any details but just as "what he did not know."

In whose name we do something should reflect on the actions themselves and shed some light on the meaning of what we are to do. And indeed the word iqra' contains an aspect of learning, recognizing, identifying something. "God called (qara) the light day, and the darkness He called night," says the Hebrew Bible. Reading is a process of increasingly understanding something and eventually to be able to express it in words and actions in a meaningful way. It is our effort that corresponds to God being our Creator and Teacher, the One who e-ducates us, that means who brings us forth, from an embryonic state of just struggling for survival and self-preservation like any other animal into true humanity that has an active and responsible role in the world.

The Qur'an itself urges us on, emphasizing the necessity to think, remember, reflect, research and understand, directing our minds not only to deeper layers of its own meaning but to God's signs in earlier revelations, in nature, in history, even in our own selves, that we can read. In the Classical age, Muslims did not hesitate to learn from the Greeks, the Persians, the Indians and even the Chinese, to respond to the challenges contained in their science and philosophy, to integrate various branches of knowledge with each other and to develop it further for the benefit of humankind.

Reading and learning then becomes a transformative pocess where we are shaped as part of God's creative and life-giving activity and where we are, in turn, empowered to take part in the shaping of our lives, of society, of the world, to contribute to the variety and beauty of creation.

Therefore all glory belongs to God, the King, the Truth. And do not be in haste with the Quran before its revelation is completed, but say, my Creator and Sustainer, increase my knowledge. (20:114)

God, purify my heart of hypocricy and my actions of show and my tongue of untruthfulness and my eye of insincerity, for You know the insincerity of the eyes and what is hidden in the hearts.
God, I ask You for beneficial knowledge, for generous sustenance, for actions that are accepted and for healing from all suffering.
God, I seek Your protection from knowledge that does not benefit, from a heart that has no respect, from a supplication that is not answered, and from a self that is insatiable.

The supplications were transmitted from the Prophet Muhammad.

(c) Halima Krausen, 2006