Books and Book-Reading from the Viewpoint of the Quran

Islam and the Holy Quran place a high value on studying, reading books and gaining knowledge. In Islam, the importance of reading books is so much that the major miracle of the great prophet of Islam (PBUH) was a book (the Holy Quran) and the first verses of this book which were received by the prophet (PBUH), commanded him to read and included words like “book”, “pen” and “science”.
The main objective of this library research – carried out through content analysis of the Holy Quran, narrations and other existing texts – is to study the status, meaning and concept of “book” and “reading books” from the viewpoint of the Holy Quran, Islam, the prophet of Islam (PBUH) and the pure imams (PBUT). Furthermore, the role of books in guidance, salvation and scientific-cultural progress of human beings and civil society is discussed.
The research findings show that both in the Quran and in the narratives and sayings of leading figures of Islam, great emphasis has been placed on the constructive role of books and reading books in the intellectual and social development of humankind. Statistical analysis of the content of the Holy Quran reveals that the following words have many repetitions: “ketab” (book) (255 times), “elm” (science) (582), “qalam” (pen) (2) and “eqra” (read) (3). Moreover, the Quran and Islamic narratives consider books and the reading of books as a means for preserving, organizing and transferring cultural and scientific resources for and to future generations and many times mention the spiritual and heavenly effects of studying and passing knowledge on to posterity. The Holy Quran attaches particular importance to science, knowledge and pondering the phenomena of the world and therefore attributes special excellence and credibility to scientists and ulama.
We may conclude from this research that studying, book-reading and education are among the major duties emphasized by Islam, the Holy Quran and narrations and sayings of Islamic figures. Therefore it is necessary to establish required infrastructures, build libraries and information centers and promote studying through different methods.