Personal Development Society Ummah

Digg the Intellectual Revolution

After revealing the Zionist plan to occupy Palestine—initially published fifty years prior to the Occupation—former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan was asked in an interview: “Don’t you fear that that the Arabs would read your plan and prepare themselves?” His response: “Rest assured, the Arabs are a nation that doesn’t read, and if they read they don’t understand, and if they understand they don’t act.”1 Sadly, the enemies of Arabs and Muslims know us better than ourselves. According to a UNESCO report issued in 2004, an Arab citizen reads only six minutes a day. Only one third of men read and half the women don’t read at all!2 A similar 2006 report states that “65 million adults in the Arab States region lack the basic learning tools to make informed decisions and participate fully in the development of their societies.” Literacy and civic engagement of Arabs and Muslims residing in the West are certainly much higher than in the Middle East. However, our collective reading, comprehension, and subsequent strategic planning and execution is most likely not yet at a standard Dayan and his ilk would feel threatened by.

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Think about the type of reading we practice on a daily basis. If Facebook messages, Twitter updates, instant messages, text messages, etc. top the list of what our brains process the most every day, we’re doing ourselves, our society and our Ummah a great injustice. Undoubtedly, modern technology and the numerous online social networks can be used for beneficial purposes (although many people do waste valuable time following random people’s posts, blogs, messages and pictures—which are often not too useful or even Islamically kosher). Even if we’re utilizing these outlets to network and advertise various events, campaigns, and noble causes, we’re putting ourself at a disadvantage if we’re not increasing our knowledge base through extensive, frequent and avid reading—first of the Qur’an and Hadith, and then of other quality literature and publications.

The Qur’an urges us to make the du`aa’ (supplication) rabbi zidny `ilma: “Oh my Lord, increase me in knowledge” (20:114). We are also encouraged from the Sunnah to say: “Oh Allah, I ask you for beneficial knowledge, and good, pure sustenance, and accepted deeds” [Ibn As-Sunni, Ibn Majah].3 Islamic knowledge is crucial, and we ‘re motivated to seek it when we hear or read the Prophetic saying, “Whoever Allah wills him good, He gives him (sound) understanding of the deen (religion: Islam)” [Bukhari]. For us to become integrative, cultured, and contributive members of society, though—and intellectually equip ourselves to  defeat the enemies of Islam (Qur’an, 8:60)—we need to branch out and diversify our palate, especially if we are tullab al-`ilm (seekers of [Islamic] knowledge).

Social media has revolutionized our main modes of communication, and it has also made information and knowledge very accessible and very easily shared within social networks.  According to Socialnomics stats, more than 1.5 million pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared daily on Facebook alone! And if we also subscribe to different blogs and websites, or various community and organizational mailing lists, we get tons of emails that we sift through and read quite frequently. We definitely need to be in touch with society’s affairs, current events and actively partake in affecting change in the world around us. However, when we are bombarded with so much information (willingly and unwillingly), there is a chance that we fail to practice selective reading and just read everything our eyes fall upon. Naturally, that consumes a lot of time, and as Henry David Thoreau states, “It is not sufficient that we keep ourselves busy. The question is: What is keeping us busy?”

Another effect of this influx is that we may become satisfied with the tidbits of information we receive, and consequently not bother to proactively seek deeper and more comprehensive knowledge.  So, how do we transform our reception of information and knowledge from passive and scattered to proactively selective and productive?

  1. Focus but diversify. Choose a topic of interest (preferably within your field of work, if applicable), and read quality publications you can find on it. Develop your knowledge of that subject to become an expert in the field. At the same time, branch out into different genres and topics. Read magazines, novels, poetry and non-fiction; complement Youtube videos and lectures with reading articles and research studies; read about conservation and administration, history and sociology, geography and astronomy; read about economics and politics, counseling and teaching, fitness and medicine; read traditional books and contemporary works; read from authors you agree with and writers you don’t share common ground with.
  2. Select and Assess. Within the field you’re reading about, choose wisely before you commit yourself to a text. Especially if you read longer works, review critiques or ask trusted sources for feedback. If applicable, peruse each work’s table of contents, intro and conclusion, and skim through the pages to gain a general overview of the topic, style and organization. The worst thing is to get stuck reading a tediously boring, horribly written or poorly structured text.
  3. Aim and Plan. Specify a purpose for why you’re reading whatever you read. Is it for enjoyment? Or are you reading to gain wisdom and benefit? Are you reading to apply the knowledge? What do you know about the subject before you begin reading? What knowledge are you hoping to gain from this reading?
  4. Skim or Delve. Decide the text’s level of importance and difficulty, and pace your reading accordingly. If you’re reading a light piece for enjoyment or general knowledge, speed read and consider only reading the first line from each paragraph. If you’re studying the text and want to absorb the most, slow down and make sure you’re processing and differentiating between facts and assertions, generalities and particulars, specific meanings and overarching themes.
  5. Interact and Engage. Underline and highlight important points, and jot down main ideas or summaries of what you read. Ask questions and critically analyze the text. Compile the most important points and review your notes. About 80% of what we read is forgotten within two weeks of reading, but only 20% is forgotten if we review immediately after reading, through recall and recitation. 4 Also, try transforming the text into diagrams or mind maps to help preserve visually the meanings in your mind.
  6. Practice and Apply. Put the acquired knowledge to good use, and utilize the information for constructive purposes in our communities. Apply it to yourself—whether intellectually through paradigm shifts and broadening your ideological perspectives, or practically through changing behaviors, attitudes or correcting previously disseminated false assertions and statements. Share the knowledge with others through verbal or written communication! Besides benefiting others, teaching and explaining is one of the best ways to help retain newly gained knowledge.

Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala has favored our father Adam (`alayhi assalam) over the angels with the knowledge He bestowed on him (Qur’an, 2:31-34).  We are also the Ummah of “Iqra’” (read/recite), and Allah has taught us with the pen; He taught us that which we didn’t know before (Qur’an, 96:1-5). Let us honor that privilege and responsibility by utilizing our minds to seek the useful and productive `ilm Allah has made so easily available in our times. And if we plan to serve our Ummah, and liberate the Holy Land from the Zionists—along with other Muslim countries from oppression, imperialist aspirations and military occupation-–it’s imperative that we sharpen our weapons of the mind, tongue and pen to collectively speak out against injustice, and actually act upon it.


  1. Creating Culture (Arabic) series by Tareq Al-Suwaidan and Faysal Umar Bashraheel (2009), vol. 2, p. 45.
  2. Ibid, p. 45.
  3. See Fortress of the Muslim (Hisn al- Muslim), p. 90.
  4. Creating Culture series, vol. 2, p. 112.

About the author

Naiyerah Kolkailah

Naiyerah Kolkailah was born and raised in San Luis Obispo, California. She graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, with a B.S. in Biological Sciences, and a minor in Religious Studies. During her college years, she served as President of the Muslim Students’ Association (MSA) and Vice President of the statewide organization, MSA-West. In 2011, Naiyerah received a Diploma in Islamic Studies from the Faculty of Islamic Studies at Qatar Foundation in Doha, Qatar. In 2012, she received a license in memorization and recitation of the Qur’an from Shaykh Uthman Khan, whom she continues to study Tajweed with at Jaamiah Jazriyyah. Naiyerah currently lives in Pismo Beach, California, where she co-directs an Islamic Studies youth program, private tutors women and children in Qur’anic recitation and memorization, and speaks about Islam at local churches, interfaith events and Islam classes. She is also serving as President of the Board of Directors of the Islamic Society of San Luis Obispo County. Naiyerah can be reached at naiyerah@gmail.com.

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  • FINALLY!!!

    Someone finally came out and said it: We’re a bunch of illiterates! I reaaaalllllyyyy appreciate this article b/c frankly, I’m tired of talking to Muslims who are backwards, indoctrinated with conspiracy theory (someone needs to write something up on this crazy youtube “documentary” called “The Arrivals”) and haven’t ever given thought to religion or society in general. We need to find a way to engage people with literature…

    Please keep writing br./sr. Naiyerah and if you write elsewhere, please link us. Jazaka Allahu khayran. Wa salam aleikum.

  • This is a fantastic reminder with action items. Jazakillahu khair.

    A lot of the social media you referenced in your article also has devastating impact on our attention span, so that’s another thing IMHO we need to work on, in parallel with developing and sustaining a reading plan.

  • I love to read and in the States and in Canada; they are libraries, book shops where you can read for free ie. chapters, indigo, barnes and noble etc They encourage their kids to read and expand their mind. Here in Pakistan; people read their school books and thats it off to tv or internet or nothing if you’re poor ie lower middle that gets sort of educated; the true poor do not even get that much. They denied education by their masters; for fear they will escape the bonds of serfdom.

    No encourgement by parents, media, or goverenment. Even my parents though educated never will buy book on their own; instead will read what I have bought perviously and then when I do buy they say you are wasting your money. Reading anything but the Quran seems to be muslim south asian cultulral no-no. I got hooked on reading when I was a kid because a teacher offered 10 dollars per book read in a month; when I was in 2nd grade. It was an ESL class and we were 3 kids; the others read one book. I read a 100 books in that month and I have been hooked on books since. On side note; I never got the 1000 bucks. Ms Fooks bought me off with some chocolate and comic books. Lol.

    Also becuase there is little or no reading; Urdu literature has suffered as well. While classical writings exist, nothing new is really added and no development of mystery, scifi and other avenues of modern literature are not being made.

  • Assalamualaikum sister,
    Jazakallah for this wonderful article! Thank you for highlighting the issues that I myself am experiencing, being bombarded daily by an influx of information that it gets hard to focus and actually delve properly into something.
    It is true that we need to be thankful that we are living in the Information Age where everything is so easily accesible, but we also need to utilize this fact by becoming responsible with the knowledge available to us.

  • MashAllah- this was such a beneficial article and so true. Amr Khaled, the Egyptian da’iya mentioned that when he was doing his PhD in the UK, he would go on the underground and most people were reading- either newspapers, books or magazines. And he said unfortunately in the Arab world especially- the most we read are movie subtitles.

    May Allah reward you for bringing this up this issue!

  • AA,

    This is a much needed reminder for our community. In America, one of the best times to do some consistent planned readings (especially with very busy work/school schedules) is the few hours you have after Fajr. In terms of diversifying, choosing 5-7 subjects you want to learn about, getting a good book for each subject, and then reading even half an hour after spending some time with one’s Quran goals, can be a really great way to start your morning, and enlighten your thoughts towards beneficial action.

    Jazaki Allah Khair Naiyerah for this powerful article!

    WS,
    Muslema

  • Greetings, Naiyerah~ Thank you for a truly insightful and honest article! I hope that you will be writing more along these lines. By the way, if you are on Facebook, I’d like to be added to your contact list. Please write to me privately about this.

    Blessings multiplied,
    Rev. Cynthia

  • Jazaki Allahu khair; great article, with great action steps to take.

    3 points:

    1) when i lived in west africa, you could drive around the city and see people reading under street lightsmasha’Allah. in other societies, there’s aversion to reading based on perception that it’s an impolite activity (one is isolated from the social group or family, and this is deemed insulting), or self-indulgent/uppity/impractical (who do you think you are?). insha’Allah these perceptions will change…

    2) within the “select and assess”, get acquainted with the intellectual context of what you’re reading (the author’s school of thought, is it answering another work or opposing another theory?, if it’s science – who is funding the research?).

  • 3rd point –

    3) media literacy is related; see http://www.medialit.org. there ‘s a 5 question analysis model they have that is helpful:

    1) who created this message? (author)
    2) What creative techniques are used to attract my attention (format)
    3) How might different people understand this message differently (audience)
    4) What values, lifestyles, points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message? (content)
    5) Why is the message being sent? (purpose)

    again, jazaki Allahu khair!

  • as salam `alaykum wa rahmat Allahi wa barakatuh,

    barak Allahu fiki Naiyerah! Great read ma sha’ Allah! My favorite quote from the article:
    If Facebook messages, Twitter updates, instant messages, text messages, etc. top the list of what our brains process the most every day, we’re doing ourselves, our society and our Ummah a great injustice.

    May Allah (swt) guide and protect our youth. Amin.

    fi ‘amanilLah,
    Um Sumayyah

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