Imagination of visualization!
I remember when I was at high school â that was not from so long though, I used to read Harry Potter series. I was very amused by the magic, and my imagination would go so far that I really tried to practice some spells, and I thought back then; if a movie was made about such stuff, it would hit the records of cinemas. That was partially correct. However, it did not hit my own records!
I believe my imagination was working better and more naturally than some cinemasâ effects; artificial effects to be precise. From this moment I realized that reading for a couple of days, weeks or even months, is much more interesting than watching a movie that lasts for only a couple of hours.
Read
I started reading since then, but I told myself what is the most important thing that worth reading now? Didnât take much time to reply to myself and say âQurâanâ. And Why not, when the first revealed verse of Qurâan was READ (recite)?
Recite in the name of your Lord who createdâ [Quran.com/96/1]
Our prophet Muhammad (PBUH) did not know how to read because he was unlettered. He didnât know how to read or write, and that is the most magnificent thing in his message. Imagine someone who had never watched any movie, and he came up to tell you a fantastic movie with all of its details, aspects; from how to work the cameras till how the actors will act the script. You would be amazed because simply he had never watched any movie … how come he knows those details? That is exactly what happened with our Prophet. The first thing he was ordered to do was the only thing he is not able to do; Reading!
So when he started spreading the message, he was ordered to spread- which is âIslamâ. His people were surprised and wondered: How come âMuhammadâ is memorizing such heavy words, when such words were used only by the scholars, writers or poets, and our prophet Muhammad (PBUH) wasnât one of those? So basically the first miracle in Islam was the prophet Muhammad reciting Qurâan without knowing how to read or write.
Read not Receive
Since we are not prophets, we have to learn how to read, and we have to read to learn. We have to stop receiving our information from the media, and to start manage and control our own minds, which will only happen through reading.