Empower Knowledge

22 October 2009, 3.00 pm

Salam..

"Read! In the name of your god who has created (all that existed). Has created man from a clot (a piece of thick, coagulated blood). Read! And your God is the Most Generous. Who has taught (the writing) by the pen (the person to write was Prophet Idris). Has taught man that which he knew not."

-Surah Al- 'Alaq 1-5.

I started my post this time with the first 5 verses of Quran which was taught to our prophet Muhammad S.A.W. Urged people to do one vital thing in life, that is READ.

What with reading? Ada apa dengan membaca?

Knowledge! Of course..

The modern world nowadays is moving fast. Competition is extremely high between scholars. Hence, those person with more knowledge and thoughts will have greater chance to conquer all the chances. Today, with a glimpse of time, a businessman can conducts a meeting without moving out from his office. Seems impossible but that's the reality recently.

So, are we ready for this phenomenon?

"Wandepet-wandepet kami tatang.. mebantu anak-anak dadam ketutatan.." budak kecik. Tak tahu abc. Masih lagi telor berbicara tapi benda selalu dia belajar lagu wonderpet.

"Weh.. kreko baru da keluar dowh~ Siot laa.. tak de duit la time-time ni.." remaja-remaja. Tahu baca majalah-majalah hiburan. Sanggup berhabis-habisan sebab komik. Siap boleh buat koleksi lagi tu.

"Ish.. tak minat la nak baca buku-buku lain. Bukan masuk exam pon," pelajar-pelajar. Still don't concern about extra knowledge.

"No time. Banyak kerja. Anak bini lagi nak settle," orang-orang agak tua.. Sudah cukupkah ilmu di dada?

That's all excuses we heard when talking about reading.

Just for comparison..

In 2001 survey, Mainichi Shinbunsha newspaper in Japan stated that 60% respondents read books and 80% read magazines.

Generally, Japanese read two books per month.

In 1998, The Canadian Statistics Homepage showed that 82% and 71% Canada's total population read newspaper and magazines respectively. 61% Canadians read books and majority read at least a book per month.

But..

In 1996, The National Library survey stated that Malaysians only read two books a year statistically! their favourite reading materials were newspapers, books, magazines and comics.

Plus, Unesco statistics showed that from 1998 to 2001, only 191 books had been translated into Bahasa Malaysia here, compared to 19,844 translated into Japanese in Japan!

See.. that why we are still lag behind both two countries until now. Don't mention United States population.. their reading rate is obviously far ahead us, Malaysians.

This thing came to my mind when I was searching for books at library in JUST. Lot of them are in arabic. Wondering how easy for me to read books in Malaysia. Terasa rugi tak bawa banyak-banyak buku dari Malaysia.

But I feel quiet satisfied to find a precious book, The International Jew. Recommended by Dr Azzam Tamimi, a British Palestinian activist, currently director of Institute of Islamic Political Thought in London during his visit to  Malaysia for Konvensyen Berakhirnya Agenda Zionis which I attended couple of months ago. Maybe I'll write some about it in next post.


Pesan saya, banyak-banyaklah membaca.


"An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."
-Benjamin Franklin, US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician & printer.

most of the books are in arabic..

lots of interesting books but quiet don't understand to read. hehe..

the international jew by henry ford sr.

Wasalam..