Reading culture in Islam gets boost
Speaking at the opening ceremony, a Muslim cleric and lecturer at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Malam AbdulFattah Adeyemi likened the importance of reading to knowledge as air is to living beings. While listing knowledge, wisdom and intelligence as cardinal benefits of reading, he enjoined parents to cultivate reading culture in their children by exemplifying it […]
Speaking at the opening ceremony, a Muslim cleric and lecturer at the Nasarawa State Polytechnic, Malam AbdulFattah Adeyemi likened the importance of reading to knowledge as air is to living beings.
While listing knowledge, wisdom and intelligence as cardinal benefits of reading, he enjoined parents to cultivate reading culture in their children by exemplifying it themselves.
“Our application of knowledge depends on the level of wisdom that we have, wisdom utilisation depends on the level of intelligence that we have.”
The Director of Nurul Bayan International Academy, Hajia Maryam Tahan, said Muslims should remember that the most important knowledge to seek is from the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (SAW).
She said, “Qur’an is the mother of books and the knowledge derived therein is the mother of knowledge both here and hereafter.
Hajia Tahan regretted that Muslims especially the youths have to struggle with the conflicting teachings of Islamic and the western knowledge. Citing an example she said, “In Islam, we know Allah is the Creator of everything both living and non-living; afterwards, the same students are taught Biology or other fields where they are taught the theory of evolution.”
She however enjoined Muslims to also seek for knowledge in other fields of human endeavours as one of the ways of regaining the lost glory of Muslim scholarship. She reasoned that taking knowledge for granted in the first place is responsible for the loss of their leadership.
In his contribution, Barrister Lanre Ipinmisho, former Director General, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), stressed the importance of parents having a family library stocked with good books in the interest of promoting both the Islamic learning and other spheres of knowledge as the school is not enough to impact knowledge in the children.
He added that today’s children learn and understand better and faster than the elders can imagine.
Dr. Shamsuddeen Fahm, Chief Accountant, National Library of Nigeria (NLN), in his contribution urged Muslims to broaden their horizon and knowledge through reading.
Chairman of De Minaret International Dr Saheed Abdur Rauf (Abu Mazeedatil Khayr), said that the exhibition was organised to promote reading through selling of books at cheap rates.
He described De Minaret as a non-governmental literary organisation devoted to the promotion of reading culture among Muslims. “With literary activities that spanned a decade, we have imported more than eighty five thousand tittles of Islamic books published across the world with heavy discount.
He revealed that the organisation has official offices and books outlet in Lagos, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and a head office in Garki, Abuja.
He said: “The main objective of this programme is to enlighten Muslims on the best way to imbibe a reading culture and to also remind them that even if the whole world had stopped reading, the Muslim world must keep reading; for Islam, the religion they practise, began with a command to read: Read in the name of thy Lord!”