In the name of God, Most Merciful, Most Kind
* * *
"I don't want any books, I am sick of books," and with that quick statement, my relative made a beeline for the women's clothing section and I stood frozen in my spot, mouth agape.
Don't want any books? I thought to myself, as I wheeled the cart piled with fruits & veggies and my two girls over to the modest little reading section in this foreign superstore. I shuddered to imagine my own daughter one day telling me something similar.
Ever since I can remember, books have meant a lot to me. Not having access to them was akin to being at a seaside pool without a bathing suit. No chance for refreshment. No chance for participation. No chance for anything.
Or maybe it was like being in a desert without any water. Perhaps then you understand the urgency of my need to read.
Books are a part of my life. From my mother's loving instruction on how to connect the letters of a story about a butterfly, to the dozens of teen books that my father would help me fill our suitcases with on a family posting to Indonesia, books have provided me with special bonding moments with my world, and the world beyond it.
___________________________
Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.
~ Emilie Buchwald ~
______________________________________________
When my own children were born in Ottawa hospitals, I was reminded immediately of the need to read to them. Bless those eager beavers at the City of Ottawa, they offered every new baby a brand new book from the library - to keep - as well as a video on the importance of reading and a great little book for me called "Reading Magic", written by Mem Fox. In it, Ms. Fox makes the compelling case for reading daily to our children in order to give them a love of reading that will carry them through a life filled with questioning and wonder.
That has been my life - one of questioning and wonder - and so when my teen relative shrugged away the chance to pick up books that would otherwise cost too much for her family to consider, I felt something inside me cry out in disbelief.
When we recently traveled back to Canada for a visit, the library's 'for sale' section, made up of discontinued books, was one of my first stops. There, I picked up half a dozen titles for my girls. Used book stores were also high on the itinerary, where I even managed to pick up a treasure: "Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons", which had just been recommended to me by a dear friend - who reads a lot, may God bless her!
Watching my two daughters pore over pages where real-life or cartoon characters put feelings and information into words so that they can experience new things, is one of my greatest joys. That the eldest may soon do it on her own, is an absolute miracle. It is devastating to realize how so many people do not derive any pleasure from reading, especially when many of them are Muslim, coming from a faith in which "Read!" was the first word revealed to the Prophet.
Perhaps it is the archaic school systems, teaching by rote to disrespected minds that are unfulfilled and forced into studying things they have no interest and no affinity for that has deadened the love of the written word. In Egypt, for example, if a student does magnificently in Chemistry, but fails in an unrelated subject, her grade-point average will nonetheless bar her from from entering Science; forced instead into a 'lower' academic stream that often results in an arts degree she'll likely care little about. Talk about creating a dead end on learning. Especially when learning becomes a chore, usually done zealously by those who see the clear connection between doing well in school and "succeeding" in the material realm. At least what their parents tell them.
Or mabe it is the disconnection between learning and our Islamic identity as learners, discoverers & pioneers, that has caused the evident deterioration in Islamic scholarship. Educators like Elma Ruth Harder point out the growing reliance on secular teaching materials in both Muslim and non-Muslim schooling environments as something to think about. After all, when you see learning as an opportunity to know more about life, creation, and directly or indirectly, about the Divine, it becomes in and of itself, an act of worship.
"The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr," said Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. "He who leaves his house in search of knowledge, walks in the path of God," he also said. And there is so much more in the Islamic tradition that points to the value of learning and, by default, reading.
So while my little family wonders whatever to do with ourselves in this city of mega- malls and mega-mosques (though hard to reach because a woman can't drive alone) - I will call up the local library and see if anyone even bothers to answer the phone.
I'm almost afraid to find out.
* * *
"I don't want any books, I am sick of books," and with that quick statement, my relative made a beeline for the women's clothing section and I stood frozen in my spot, mouth agape.
Don't want any books? I thought to myself, as I wheeled the cart piled with fruits & veggies and my two girls over to the modest little reading section in this foreign superstore. I shuddered to imagine my own daughter one day telling me something similar.
Ever since I can remember, books have meant a lot to me. Not having access to them was akin to being at a seaside pool without a bathing suit. No chance for refreshment. No chance for participation. No chance for anything.
Or maybe it was like being in a desert without any water. Perhaps then you understand the urgency of my need to read.
Books are a part of my life. From my mother's loving instruction on how to connect the letters of a story about a butterfly, to the dozens of teen books that my father would help me fill our suitcases with on a family posting to Indonesia, books have provided me with special bonding moments with my world, and the world beyond it.
___________________________
Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.
~ Emilie Buchwald ~
______________________________________________
When my own children were born in Ottawa hospitals, I was reminded immediately of the need to read to them. Bless those eager beavers at the City of Ottawa, they offered every new baby a brand new book from the library - to keep - as well as a video on the importance of reading and a great little book for me called "Reading Magic", written by Mem Fox. In it, Ms. Fox makes the compelling case for reading daily to our children in order to give them a love of reading that will carry them through a life filled with questioning and wonder.
That has been my life - one of questioning and wonder - and so when my teen relative shrugged away the chance to pick up books that would otherwise cost too much for her family to consider, I felt something inside me cry out in disbelief.
When we recently traveled back to Canada for a visit, the library's 'for sale' section, made up of discontinued books, was one of my first stops. There, I picked up half a dozen titles for my girls. Used book stores were also high on the itinerary, where I even managed to pick up a treasure: "Teach your child to read in 100 Easy Lessons", which had just been recommended to me by a dear friend - who reads a lot, may God bless her!
Watching my two daughters pore over pages where real-life or cartoon characters put feelings and information into words so that they can experience new things, is one of my greatest joys. That the eldest may soon do it on her own, is an absolute miracle. It is devastating to realize how so many people do not derive any pleasure from reading, especially when many of them are Muslim, coming from a faith in which "Read!" was the first word revealed to the Prophet.
Perhaps it is the archaic school systems, teaching by rote to disrespected minds that are unfulfilled and forced into studying things they have no interest and no affinity for that has deadened the love of the written word. In Egypt, for example, if a student does magnificently in Chemistry, but fails in an unrelated subject, her grade-point average will nonetheless bar her from from entering Science; forced instead into a 'lower' academic stream that often results in an arts degree she'll likely care little about. Talk about creating a dead end on learning. Especially when learning becomes a chore, usually done zealously by those who see the clear connection between doing well in school and "succeeding" in the material realm. At least what their parents tell them.
Or mabe it is the disconnection between learning and our Islamic identity as learners, discoverers & pioneers, that has caused the evident deterioration in Islamic scholarship. Educators like Elma Ruth Harder point out the growing reliance on secular teaching materials in both Muslim and non-Muslim schooling environments as something to think about. After all, when you see learning as an opportunity to know more about life, creation, and directly or indirectly, about the Divine, it becomes in and of itself, an act of worship.
"The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr," said Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. "He who leaves his house in search of knowledge, walks in the path of God," he also said. And there is so much more in the Islamic tradition that points to the value of learning and, by default, reading.
So while my little family wonders whatever to do with ourselves in this city of mega- malls and mega-mosques (though hard to reach because a woman can't drive alone) - I will call up the local library and see if anyone even bothers to answer the phone.
I'm almost afraid to find out.
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