THE BENEFITS OF READING

Reading Keeps the Brain Young and Active

Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company, claimed, “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young.”

According to the latest studies, approximately fifty thousand neurons die every day in the brains of people over twenty years old. An increase in the death of these cells causes memory loss. Memory loss begins to set in rapidly with the increasing death of these nerve cells in those who do not read, whereas a person who reads regularly has a greater chance of avoiding this condition, because reading helps preserve the brain cells. If we want our brains to remain young and healthy we must constantly stimulate them. Reading challenging material frequently is good brain exercise. In recent years, the fatal disease known as Alzheimer’s has increased rapidly throughout the entire world. This disease, which is the diminishing of the brains’ abilities, affects many people over the age of sixty-five. In fact, according to research, Alzheimer’s disease is one of the leading causes of death. Research shows that one of the causes of this disease spreading among elderly people is the lack of brain exercise. Brain cells that are not exercised or used properly begin to diminish. As cultural involvement decreases, nerve cells in the memory center of the brain begin to degenerate and die. Reading exercises the human brain and keeps the brain alive and healthy. This is why dementia or memory loss in old age is less common in people who read on a frequent basis compared to those who are not accustomed to reading.

This true story is relevant to this subject: In America, when Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes retired voluntarily at the age of ninety, he was visited at his home by newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The President asked why Holmes was reading Plato in his library. Holmes replied, “To improve my mind.” Students who suffer from memory loss should concentrate more on reading books and not accustom the brain to idleness.

The Noble Prophet Prescribes That We Read

When we study books on the traditions of the noble Prophet (books of hadith), we see that in many of the traditions he praised knowledge, scholars and students of knowledge, encouraging his followers to read and learn. The noble Prophet, who said that acquiring knowledge was incumbent upon all Muslims, also said in another of the traditions that wisdom and knowledge are things the believer lacks, and that a believer should acquire knowledge wherever he finds it. He emphasized that the ink of scholars will be weighed on the Day of Judgment along with the blood of martyrs, and the ink of scholars will outweigh the blood of martyrs.

The noble Prophet related in another tradition, “He who follows a path in quest of knowledge, God will make the path to Paradise easy for him. The angels lower their wings over the seeker of knowledge, being pleased with what he does. The inhabitants of the heavens and the earth and even the fish in the depth of the oceans seek forgiveness for him. The superiority of the learned man over the devout worshipper is like that of the full moon to the rest of the stars. The learned are the heirs of the Prophets who bequeath neither dinar nor dirham but only that of knowledge; and he who acquires it has in fact acquired an abundant portion.” And he also supplicated occasionally with these words: “O Lord! Benefit me with what You have taught me, and teach me what is beneficial for me, and increase me in knowledge.” The noble Prophet, who distinctly prescribed that we read and increase our knowledge said, “God raises nations with knowledge, making them leaders of goodness whose guidance and paths are to be followed.” Another narration reads, “The learned believer holds a rank seventy degrees higher than a devout servant. The distance between each of these degrees is like the distance between the heavens and the earth.”

In the same way that the Prophet encouraged studying and attaining knowledge, he also tells us to convey this knowledge to others. “The greatest charity for a Muslim is to learn something and then teach it to his Muslims brothers.” And in another tradition: “God, His angels, the dwellers of the heavens and the earth, even the ant and the fish in the ocean supplicate for those who teach people knowledge.”

We will now continue on to the next subject; those who require more detailed information regarding the subject may refer to the books of the Prophet’s traditions.