The value of book and reading

The writing and recording matter are counted among the most important and precious affair of mankind. Because writing and recording are the biggest factor which protect and shield from scientist and scholar knowledge and their thoughts.

The survival of science and thoughts which leads to mental and practical growth of society are depend on writing. If knowledge with its whole natural value doesn’t transfer and remain unknown hasn’t any value.

Islam’s attention to acquirement of knowledge

Islam gives great importance to knowledge insofar as Islam orders that:

“Acquire knowledge from cradle to grave”

 And the holy prophet (peace be upon him) orders that “acquiring knowledge is necessary for every Muslim”[1]

God loves student and the writing and recording value’s chapter which is a vast chapter in holy Quran and quotations shows Islam special attention to knowledge.

The value of writing and recording

    The book means ordered paper that contain scientific and deep look on an especial matter. The book is retentive of human’s knowledge and is a tool to transfer knowledge to others and is illustrative of the times and generation and leads to revival of nation and people history and their culture.

The Ahl-e-Beit (peace be up on them) has a lot of absolute recommendations on recording and writing the scientific material and has implied this important matter in their quotation.

Hereon, the holy prophet (peace be up on him) says “retain science and knowledge and protect them” then he was asked about the way of retaining the knowledge and he answered “by its writing and recording”[2] in this quotation the holy prophet (peace be up on him) orders to writing the knowledge and its recording. And Imam Sadegh (God bless him) says “retain your book as well as you can because you will need them very soon”[3]

“Write and publish your knowledge among your brothers and when your time of death arrive inherit your books to your child because a time which is full of seditions will come when people will feel fondness to their books and will occupy with them”[4]

    These commands and hundreds of commands like this cause promotion of science and the high prevalence of writing books, establishing libraries, science promotion, authoring books and dedicate the book in order to help to utilities and libraries .

 The holy prophet and Ahl-e-Beit (peace be up on them) recommendations

A man from Ansar always contribute in holy prophet’s (peace be up on him) meeting and listened his speech which made him extremely eager and was astonishing for him and made him a fan of holy prophet (peace be up on him) but he wasn’t able to memorize them so he said his worry about this to holy prophet (peace be up on him). The holy prophet (peace be up on him) says to him “for retaining and saving these utterance get help from your hand” and by beckoning at his hand said to him write his speech and utterance.[5]

Imam Hassan (peace is up on him) gathered his child’s and his sister child’s and said to them “although you are among the youngest member of family but this is possible that you will be leader of other groups. So acquiring science and knowledge is essential for you and if there is someone among you who cannot acquire knowledge or memorize it he has to write the knowledge and put that written knowledge in his home and protect that.”[6]

Ebne Basir says that I have heard from Imam Sadegh (peace is up on him) that he said “take action for writing (realities of religion) because you couldn’t memorize and protect these realities except writing and recording them”[7]

  The holy prophet (peace be up on him) said “when a believer die if he leaves even one paper from his knowledge in this world, this paper will be like a cover or obstacle between him and the fire of hell, and God according to the number of letters which has written by him in that paper will give him a town (in heaven) which is greater than this world and whatever exist in it.”[8]

This is a corner of science value and scientists and acquiring science, and its writing in Ahl-e-Beit’s (peace be up on them) viewpoint. There is a lot of content about this chapter that if we want to mention all of them it needs to thousands of papers. Just to complete this discussion, we mention the Osool-e-Kafi book which is among the most famous shia book and counts as scientific resource of shia that prepared according holy Quran verses and Ahl-e-Beit’s (peace be up on them) quotation and the way it has been edited.

The value of knowledge from the viewpoint of one of the most important shia’s book written by Ayat-o-Allah koleiny’s who spent 20 years of his noble life for writing Alkafi books and faced with a lot of difficulties during writing this book. He has discussed about the importance of acquiring knowledge and the necessity of prevalence the knowledge from religion aspect in his valuable introduction of Alkafi books. We should know that the difference between animals and mankind depend on this knowledge and awareness. The Islam doesn’t allow the ignorance and unawareness in any case, and if the ignorance was allowed in Islam, so no task and duties would set up for mankind and no book would descend on the messengers and none of the messengers came.

So we have to say that the philosophy of the religion and messengers is to getting out the people from ignorance and this affair doesn’t obtain except acquiring the knowledge and this is religion logic. At first the God religion calls people to be wise, intellectual and having rational personality and invites people to rational works and contemplation because the God gives a great deal of importance to knowledge and its value in religion.

To indicating the importance of knowledge, scientists, authors, religious thoughts and other scholar, we imply to some contents of Alkafi book significance of science and knowledge chapter that we have different quotations in every chapter.

Knowledge definition and advantage of scientist chapter

Learned people (the people who has acquired the knowledge) and students (the people who are learning the knowledge) reward chapter.

How are scientists and their condition chapter?

Dignity of scientist and learned people chapter

Scientist and loss of learned people chapter

The privilege of being with scientists and knowledgeable people chapter

The importance of asking question from learned people and having conversation with them chapter

Encourage to teaching and learning knowledge to all of people chapter

Criticism to speaking without knowledge chapter

Criticism to behaving not based on knowledge chapter

The necessity of using knowledge (in our affair) chapter

The big responsibilities of scientist and educated people chapter

 The importance of books and transference of knowledge and writing privilege and retaining them and cited the books

Then after finishing these chapters and many contents which presented there the monotheism start.

We can gain an image from Islam discipline way by paying attention to these matters. Starting with element of intellect and wisdom and using them then practicing knowledge and awareness then practicing Gods worship with insight and perception later on recognition the leader and after acquiring the correct recognition entering in life scene, this is what Islam says.

And these all value of knowledge didn’t remain except with writing and recording them. The book is an element which creates with writing, and God takes an oath to pen which is in the hand of positive people. God has ranked messengers and Ahl-e-Beit’s (peace be up on them) higher than others and after them other groups of people according to their activities and services have a value. Of course at first everyone is equal in presence of God justice but their deeds, manners and behaviors value them. There is a difference among technical people, other groups of people and knowledgeable people who have special value among others. So they have a great value after God’s messenger and Ahl-e-Beit (peace be up on them). People regulate their affairs, mentalities and behaviors according to their writings and books. By them towns was constructed and people were saved from misguidance and all groups of people need their writings and books and knowledge distribution which has created by them.

Kinds of books    

We have implied that there is a lot of recommendation about writing and recording in our religious culture but is it a good reason to read every book? Or is it worth to giving time for studying those books?

The books divide into two groups:

  1-the books contain negative contents:

 Some books contain fictitious, worthless and futile contents and have written in order to destroy humanity and mortality. These book’s writers have written these kinds of books and express their thoughts without considering piety and human equity and separate people from their main path, understanding the realities, perfection and lead them toward misdirection. The Islam mentions these kinds of books as misleading books and has banned these books selling, buying or keeping.

The religious scientist have useful comments on this matter but in one case religion experts can read these books  in order to disapprove them. If these authors avoided to write such a books there wasn’t that much deviance and the void doesn’t made any progress and mankind didn’t entered in misdirection.

There are a lot of people who have been deviated by these kinds of books in history and have left the right path and those people who wrote these books and had a hand in its distribution, are sharer in heterodoxy’s sin. These people spread misdirection with these kinds of books and have done a great cruelty in human’s rights and even to themselves.

1-the books contain positives contents:

 The books written in order to growth of mankind in socially or individually field and in different knowledge’s area are includes in positive books and are worth to read, whether these books provided human with worldly knowledge or with spiritually knowledge and have written in order to human growth, his discipline, his transmutation and construct human civilizations and personalities. These books are those have been admired and abetted by Islamic sources and Imam Ali (God bless him) called these books as scientist gardens and has said “books are scientist gardens.”[9]