Books, the ability to produce and read them, have long marked the vitality of civilisations. As a written record of our collective memory, they weave the very fabric of thought and culture. To read is to be educated not by the mere digestion of information, but through its transformation. It is to train both mind and memory, to practice patience and encourage discernment. And as reading expands the horizons of the world outside us, so it quietly contours the landscape within.

The Powerlessness of Ignorance

For centuries, knowledge in Europe was the property of the few. In medieval Britain, books were chained to monastery walls, the ability to read them reserved for priests and princes. A people who cannot read their own story are a people who are easily persuaded of someone else’s. This gradual decay of literacy has resurfaced today, not through lack of access to knowledge, but through a willing neglect of it. Causes are recycled, their substance distorted rather than deepened. Quotes are misappropriated, adopted as mantras stripped of their context, then mistaken for wisdom. Self-censorship has replaced honest opinion; we no longer possess the understanding to defend our convictions, nor the grace to listen when others differ. In many a sense, we have burnt our own books, chaining ourselves once more to the walls of self-imposed ignorance.

The Generosity of Wisdom

The liberation brought about by reading is, through an Islamic lens, understood as a divine blessing. “Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous” (Quran 96:3) is a beautiful reminder that the gift of seeking knowledge is bestowed uniquely upon humankind. God’s choice of His name Al-Akram – The Most Generous, in this verse reveals that wisdom itself is an act of generosity, a bounty freely given. To read, to write, and to remember are forms of divine provision through which we are nourished inwardly as individuals and collectively as civilisations. 

In the Steep

In its essence, reading then is truly the gift that keeps on giving. Where ignorance casts shadows, reading is the ultimate form of illumination, guiding us down avenues that otherwise would have remained hidden. This divine gift is one to be cultivated and cherished, a shared responsibility to seek understanding rather than to follow unthinkingly. In a world that finds convenience in ignorance, the act of reading remains an act of remembrance and redemption.