I have a close friend. If anyone says in front of him that she is not habitual of reading or she does not have enough time to read then he responses back, “keep calm! You are not all alone in this matter. Other animals also don’t read books.”
This is a reality that instinct teaches both animal and man a lot of things. Many functions are performed on the basis of knowledge acquired from this. Many a thing both take from environment. But this is the specialty of man that he translates the treasure of knowledge into words and preserves it in the book vault so that other people can take advantage of this treasure. This is the dynasty of pen and book whose conquest opens all the doors of conquering the universe on humans.
To read book is not only the difference between man and animal but it also becomes the difference of one nation from the other. The nation which is governed by pen and book governs other nations in the way men governs animals.
History reminds that the Holy Quran created in Muslims an extraordinary taste for reading and writing. This taste was produced in the context of religion. And once it was created, it was not restricted to religion but spread to all branches of knowledge. As a conclusion of which Muslims governed the world for a thousand years. Even the decline of Muslims initiated from an event that in Baghdad or Spain, stocks of the books of Muslims were either burnt or otherwise fell into the hands of Christians after the defeat of Muslims. When these books reached Europe, they became rulers in upcoming days.
Even today, if we want to step on the path of development, there is only one way which is to create reading habit in individuals. Because the land on which the crop of pen and book grows, is watered by the people who love reading. And the society in which taste and habit of reading ends, the production of knowledge also ends there. In a nation without knowledge, nothing can happen except defeat.
Translated by Muzammil Nazeer