Reading habit.

ONE of my fondest childhood memories of Pakistan is that of stopping at hawkers' stalls by the roadside, browsing through the stacks of unwanted books of the so-called raddi wala or old bookseller, and many a time finding a real gem. One often witnessed only one or two curious customers around these carts.

If a book of interest was found, I would buy it and begin to read it on my bus route. Usually, I would see no one else on the bus reading a book or a newspaper. Most of my fellow passengers would be staring outside the window of the vehicle, gazing at the emptiness beyond. It was an awkward feeling to be usually the only one not staring outside.

But after moving to the US, my observations were completely the opposite. It would feel awkward on a bus, train or plane ride, if I was not reading anything.

I recall my first Urdu essay in school titled Books: My Best Friend. I remember writing in the essay that if one had acquired the habit of reading, one was never alone. One could travel around the world sitting in one's home.

The importance of reading has been very much stressed in Islam. In fact, the first word of the Holy Quran that was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was 'Iqra', meaning to read or recite. Muslim history is filled with multi-volume libraries that formed an important part of literate Muslim cities. Reading as a means of learning is a part of global culture. Muslims in this day and age tend to claim too much about their past achievements; in contrast, now they seem to have significantly lost the zeal for learning and exploring through reading that they once had.

Reading helps our minds to grow and, as science reveals, the mind can keep growing and making new pathways of understanding even as the body ages. Charles Van Doren in the classic work How to Read a Book argues that 'The body is limited in ways that the mind is not. But there is no limit to the amount of growth and development that the mind can sustain. The mind does not stop growing at any particular age.'

As we read, the mind acquires new knowledge and new pathways of thinking are developed, many times leading to inventions. It was through translating and reading Greek books that Muslims in their glorious past made new knowledge available to the world.

It is best if started early. Cognitive sciences advise parents that reading books at the earliest time is useful for the cognitive advancement of even the unborn child. With this knowledge, when blessed with kids...