The meaning of the first verses of the Glorious Qur’an that were revealed was about reading-writing-thinking. In 96:4 Almighty God defined the relationship between Himself and humans: “Who has taught by the pen.” (1) In this relationship God is the teacher, a human is a learner, the essence of relationship is the knowledge, an instrument that connects humans to God is the pen, and activity that establishes the connection between God and humans is writing.
However, as Muslims, we abandoned pen and writing, we distanced ourselves from the knowledge and as a result, we severed the connection between us and God, becoming godless. Writing is the outward manifestation of the inward process of thinking. Thinking without writing is like shooting without aiming, it becomes unproductive, ineffective, and aimless. Writing allows thinking to become systematic, logical, sequential, productive, and effective. The first believers, as in the example of Ali ibn Abi Talib, were writers-readers-thinkers, and that was the foundation of their success and progress. (2)
This verse of 96:4 and verse 2:31 show us the Qur’anic law of knowledge, which states that it is the knowledge that makes humans better than angels and that it is the knowledge that connects humans to God. And the way of producing and achieving knowledge is writing.
Therefore, writing has to become the daily habit of believers.
All religions in general and Islam in particular, aim one thing: the establishment of productive habits. As an example, we can think about the daily habit of reading-thinking named Salah and the annual habit of sharing named Zakah. Both conscious and unconscious habits are the core and essence of human character, and that is why Islam calls humans to practice habit building. The proof of this is in Sahih Bukhari: “Narrated 'Aisha: The most beloved action to Allah's Apostle was that whose doer did it continuously and regularly.” (3) Here, the words continuously and regularly refer to habits because habits are the activities that we do continuously and regularly. So, in the light of 96:4, we can reach the conclusion that writing has to be the daily habit of each believer.
All aforementioned ideas point to one of the four fundamental Qur’anic principles – Knowledge. The other three are Justice, Freedom, and Compassion. These fundamental principles, main ideas, and basic concepts are crucial to both the personal and social lives of humans. Similarly to the material world, where almost everything is made of only four particles (protons, neutrons, electrons, photons), similarly to living and growing organisms that are made mostly of CHON (carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen), similarly to the four building blocks of DNA (CGAT: cytosine, guanine, adenine, thymine), Justice, Freedom, Compassion, and Knowledge are the DNA of the Qur’an and Islam. If a person has no justice, freedom, compassion, and knowledge in her life, then she is a Muslim in name but not in essence, she is a Muslim in appearance but not in substance, she is a Muslim in words but not in deeds. And this is the sad truth and crippling reality of the current age and time: some people who call themselves Muslims are against justice and freedom, and they have no compassion and knowledge.
The reason for this is that Muslim people are not reading-writing-thinking on a high level for the last five hundred years. Reading-writing-thinking was relegated and delegated to the Ulama (religious scholars) and reading-writing-thinking was thought to be fard al-kifayah (communal obligation) (4). However, the defeats and regress of the last five hundred years show that small, inflexible, rigid, backward, and oligarchic groups cannot devise solutions for the present problems of the Muslim world. Therefore, reading-writing-thinking have to be and have to become fard al-ayn (individual obligation), in the same manner as Salah and Zakah. That means reading-writing-thinking have to be the daily habits of each and every person, both old and young, male and female, rich and poor, etc. Without doing that, the backwardness and ignorance of the Muslim people, the negligence of 96:4 and 96:3 is going to continue, and more new defeats are going to be experienced by the Muslims.
The first step to establishing reading-writing-thinking as a daily habit was done by Said Nursi. He was the person who first-handedly experienced the defeat and collapse of the Islamic world at the beginning of the twentieth century. He wrote the Risale-i Nur collection which is the story of both personal and societal defeat, collapse and disintegration, and subsequent attempts at rebirth, renewal, and reform. Similar to the Protestant Reformation and Renaissance of Europe, he re-introduced the forgotten and neglected Qur’anic ideas and ideals of Knowledge, Compassion, Freedom, and Justice; he understood that the first and foremost step that Muslims must take is to change their mentality and mindset. That is why the Risale-i Nur collection is the set of cognitive tools that change and update the mentality and mindset of Muslim people. He, himself and through his followers, practised and preached reading-writing-thinking inspired from the 96:4; his works were copied by hand in the approximate number of six hundred thousand. (5) However, he was viciously criticized and attacked by the traditional religious scholars, who wanted the continuation of the status quo, when reading-writing-thinking is monopolized by the small oligarchic groups when mentality and mindset of people is the hostage in the hands of corrupted hypocrites who hide under the guise of piety. So, personally, I see Said Nursi as a protester against the five-century-long idleness in thought and knowledge. As any protester, he was not accepted by the establishment, and as any reformer, he was scoffed at and ignored. Even the people and communities who claim to follow his ideas and principles are ignorant of those ideas and principles.
The five-hundred-year-long rout and defeat of the Muslim world have definite and obvious causes and roots: not reading, not writing, and not thinking. The reformers such as Said Nursi tried to explain them and offer solutions. Their efforts achieved success but it was a partial success only. For complete success, reading-writing-thinking have to be embedded in the cultural DNA of every person. I think, that any person should think that if she does not read-write-think daily, then she is contributing to the present situation of defeat.
While Muslims ignore and neglect the Qur’anic principles of Knowledge, Compassion, Freedom, and Justice, Westerners reap the benefits of applying Qur’anic principles, either consciously or unconsciously. One example is J. K. Rowling. She was a poor housewife who was receiving state welfare benefits. However, because she acquired the habit of writing from the age of six (6), she became the first billionaire author. (7) Now, ask yourself ‘Is it possible that a housewife from a Muslim country becomes a billionaire just by writing and selling words?’ The answer is going to be ‘No, it is impossible’. Why? Because we do not have daily habits of reading-writing-thinking, and we do not teach our children the daily habits of reading-writing- thinking.
The physical laws of inertia and entropy, when applied to history and sociology, tell us that any movement decays, degrades, and erodes with the flow of time. Then, on the ashes of the old, new movements begin. However, every movement has the ideas as seeds at its beginning.
Therefore, new ideas and new thoughts, or new expressions and versions of old ideas have to be written. This can be possible, if and only if reading-writing-thinking becomes fard al-ayn (individual obligation) and the daily habit of each and every individual, regardless of their age, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, nationality, language, culture, etc.
2:111 … Say: “Produce your proof if you are truthful!” 8
25:30 And the Messenger says: “My Lord! Surely my people have made this Qur’an something worthy of no attention.” 9
-İman isteyen münafık
(1) Ünal, The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English.
(2) Bukhari, Sahih Bukhari.
(3) Bukhari.
(4) Oxford Islamic Studies Online, “Fard Al-Ayn (Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Islam).”
(5) Nursi, The Words: On the Nature and Purposes of Man, Life, and All Things.
(6) Rowling, “J.K.Rowling Official Site.”
(7) Whitten and Giuliano, “The World’s First Billionaire Author Is Cashing In.”
(8) Ünal, The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English.
(9) Ünal.
References
Bukhari. Sahih Bukhari. Edited by Mika’il al-Almany. Translated by M. Muhsin Khan, 2009. https://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_Sahih_Al-Bukhari.pdf.
Nursi, Said Bediuzzaman. The Words: On the Nature and Purposes of Man, Life, and All Things.
Translated by Şükran Vahide. Vol. 1. Risale-i Nur Collection. Nuruosmaniye Cad., Sorkun Han 28/2, Cağaloğlu, Istanbul, Turkey. Tel: 0212 527 10 10 Fax: 0212 527 82 31: Sözler Publications A. S., 2008. http://www.sozler.com.tr.
Oxford Islamic Studies Online. “Fard Al-Ayn (Source: The Oxford Dictionary of Islam).” Accessed January 28, 2021. http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e624.
Rowling, J. K. “J.K.Rowling Official Site,” April 21, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20060421032312/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/bio graphy.cfm.
Ünal, Ali. The Qur’an with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English, n.d. www.mquran.org www.theholybook.org.
Whitten, Sarah, and Karissa Giuliano. “The World’s First Billionaire Author Is Cashing In.” CNBC, July 31, 2015. https://www.cnbc.com/2015/07/31/the-worlds-first-billionaire- author-is-cashing-in.html.