Your Best Companion Is A Book

Shaykh 'Aa'id bin 'Abdullah al-Qarni"Don't Be Sad"(p. 135-139)

An activity that brings about joy is for you to read a book and develop your mind through the acquisition of knowledge.

Al-Jaahiz, the writer, advises you to repel anxiety through reading books. It will repel boredom and depression. He said:

"The book is a companion that does not praise you and does not entice you to evil. It is a friend that does not bore you and it is a neighbour that causes you no harm. It is an acquaintance that desires not to extract from you favours through flattery and it does not deceive you with duplicity and lies. When you are poring through the pages of a book, your senses are stimulated and your intellect sharpens. Furthermore, your tongue will find eloquence and grandeur. Through reading the biographies of others, you gain an appreciation of common people and you learn the ways of kings. It can even be said that you sometimes learn from the pages of a book in a month, that which you do not learn from the tongues of men in a century. All this benefit, yet no loss in wealth and no need to stand at the door of the teacher who is waiting for his fees, to learn from someone who is lower than you in manners.

The book obeys you by night as it does by day, both when you are travelling and when you are at home. A book is not impaired by sleep nor does it tire in the late hours of the night. It is the teacher who is there with you wherever you are in need of it and it is the teacher, who, if you refuse to give to it, it does not refuse to give to you. If you abandon it, it does not decree in obedience. And when all turn against you, showing you enmity, it remains by your side. As long as you are remotely attached to a book, it suffices you from having to keep company with those who are idle. It prevents you from sitting on your doorstep and watching those who pass by. It saves you from mixing with those who are frivolous in their character, who are foul in their speech, who are base in character, and who are woeful in their ignorance. If the only benefit of a book was that it keeps you from foolish daydreaming and prevents you from frivolity, it would certainly be considered to be a true friend who has given you a great favour."

Sayings Concerning the Virtues of Books

Abu 'Ubaydah said:

"Al-Muhallab advised his son, saying: 'O son, do not linger in the marketplace except at the place of the maker of armour or the book vendor.'"

Al-Hasan al-Lulu'ee said:

"Forty years have passed, and I have not dozed off in the day or at night nor have I lied down except that a book was resting on my chest."

Ibn al-Jahm said:

"If I feel drowsy when it is time to sleep - and wasteful is the sleep that exceeds one's needs - I take up a book from the books of wisdom and I find bliss in coming across a pearl and rapture when I find something interesting. The state of my heart when I am happily engaged in reading and learning keeps me awake more than does the braying of the donkey or the shrill noise of something breaking."

He also said:

"If I find a book to be agreeable and enjoyable, and if I deem it to be beneficial, you will see me hour after hour checking how many pages were left, from fear of being close to the end. And if it is many volumes with a great number of pages, my life is complete, my happiness total."

And the best, highest, and worthiest of books is:

"[This is the] Book [the Qur'an] sent down unto you [O Muhammad] so let not your breast be narrow therefrom, that you warn thereby..."(7:2)


The Benefits of Reading

1) Reading repels anxiety and grief.

2) While busy reading, one is prevented from delving into falsehood.

3) Reading makes one too busy to keep company with the idle and the inactive.

4) By reading often, one develops eloquence and clarity of speech.

5) Reading helps to develop the mind and purify its thoughts.

6) Reading increases knowledge and improves both memory and understanding.

7) By reading, one benefits from the experiences of others: the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of scholars.

8) Maturing one's ability to acquire and to process knowledge, to learn about the different fields of knowledge and their applications to life - these benefits are derived through reading.

9) Your faith will increase when you read beneficial books, especially books written by practicing Muslim writers. The book is the best giver of sermons and it has a forceful effect in guiding one toward goodness and away from evil.

10) Reading helps to relax one's mind from distraction and saves one's time from being wasted.

11) By reading often, one gains mastery over more words and learns the different constructions of sentences; moreover, one improves in his ability to grasp concepts and to understand that which is written between the lines.

An Arab poet said:

"Nourishment of the soul is in concepts and meanings,And not in food and drink