Did God tell us to read?

Read! In the Name of your Lord Who has created (all that exists). (96:1)

Do you know that this was the first verse God revealed to Muhammad (peace be upon him)?

With this one verse, many lessons can be derived. Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an illiterate and yet God wanted him to read. And all praises be with God, with His will, Muhammad learned to read.

Now, all of us were born illiterate, not till we were sent to school to learn. Having acquired the knowledge to read, we have climbed the technological ladder very quickly and with many new inventions, our life is way more comfortable than how it used to be before. Many scientific discoveries were also made after researching, recording and READing past records from previous scientist.

Like Muhammad, we were all illiterate. However, have we climbed and learned about God like how we did it for school? Did we even bother to read about God like how we are so bothered to get a diploma or a degree or a doctorate knowing that with these levels of education, it will benefit us in this world?

Many times when it comes to reading the Book of Guidance which God had sent down as a form of His Mercy, we put it aside and choose to read magazines, novels, daily newspapers and etc. Some of us are even too afraid to read the Book God had sent down and choose to read other books written by religious scholars instead.

Of course there may be no harm in reading anything but it can never be better than the Book God had sent down to us. Let’s pray to God seeking from Him guidance and giving us the strength to read His Book and giving us the knowledge and understanding of His Book of Guidance.