Reading Requires Writing:
And Reading and Writing Will Be Forever!
Dr. Pasha
(Bringing Islam to the World One Concept at a Time!
Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It --
And which One Does Not?)
Our self-imposed mission in life is: To clarify concepts, one at a time.
That is part of what we mean when we say: Taking the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It -- and Which One Does Not?
And that requires an Iron Discipline on the part of all of us. And that means we all need to put on blinders, swat away all the distractions that invade us like swarms of locust from every direction, and concentrate on what we all have, after much thought and analysis, elected to do.
And what is Islam if not Discipline? Discipline in thought, Discipline in belief and Discipline in behavior.
And that also means Writing. Even though nobody may be reading much these days. For all kinds of different reasons.
For Islam's First Commandment is: Read! And that also means Writing. And Qur'an is a Written Document. And that means, no matters what all short-cuts human beings seek and practice, no matter what all technological tools and devices, almost all of them driven by Profit Motives and Corporate Interests, aid and abet them in these pursuits, Reading and Writing will be forever.
They will never go obsolete or out of use. And they will play a decisive role in human affairs for as long as this world lasts.
The next best tool in this regard is Audio: to clarify concepts and to take the Qur'an to Every Home and Heart that Needs It -- and Which One Does Not?
While Video adds more input and more variables in the mix, and makes it more fun to create and consume, it also comes with issues and problems of its own. And one of the worst things Video does is, it compromises the Message by adding to it, by subtracting from it, or by modifying it in some other way.
And just to make it simple, remember, whatever the camera touches, the camera destroys. How exactly the camera does that, using what million ways, is an entire book in and of itself. And this is not the place to address that issue.
Just understand it like this that the Camera -- and all related technology -- is nothing but a technical extension and diversification of the ancient Brush.
And of the old Hammer and Chisel.
Does it make sense to you now that the Second Commandment in the Bible most clearly and emphatically forbids the use of all kinds of Imagery and Iconography, which is what modern technology-driven video making is all about?
Here, read the Second Commandment below for yourself. After reading it carefully, and several times, you can ask yourself to what extent Christianity follows the teachings of the Bible.
After that you can see for yourself how the Bible totally and completely nips in the bud any and all proclivities that human beings will have toward Shirk and Idolatry.
And remember, the Second Commandment, naturally comes after the First Commandment. And the First Commandment is as clear a statement of Monotheism or Tawuheed and Real Islam as you are ever going to find on this planet.
And then, directly after the First Commandment comes the Second Commandment, and closes the door shut in the face of all Shirk and Idolatry from ever making a backdoor entry into the pure teachings of Tawuheed and Monotheism and Islam as they were encapsulated into the First Commandment.
Here is the First Commandment in Exodus 20:3: "Thou Shalt Have No God Besides Me."
Change the language to Qur'an in Arabic and the First Commandment reads as follows: Laa Illaha Illallah!
And now the Second Commandment in the Bible Exodus 20:4:
"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them."
The painter's brush, the engraver's chisel, and the modern media expert's technological tools and devices of videography all chip away at the Second Commandment and open the door for Shirk and Kufr.
And that is how, over the centuries, the Pure Divine Message of Jesus and Moses, Alaihimas Salam, was slowly but unmistakably changed to a Man-Made System of Kufr and Shirk presided over by the Christian Church.
All you need to do is to go look at the image of God and Adam, Ma'adhallah, on the ceiling at Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome painted by Michelangelo, with God, Ma'adhallah, as a half-clad old man with a bushy beard.
As a painting, experts may call it a breathtaking classic. But what no human being can doubt is that it is a direct violation of the Second Commandment and an open invitation to Polytheism and Idol Worship.
And as for all the tricks and gimmicks -- call them Special Effects if you wish -- anybody can produce those if they set their minds to it, some better than some others, provided they have the required training and resources.
But Haqq -- Islam that is -- does not depend on Special Effects to take hold of people's minds and imagination. Islam does not sell its message to the world using technological sleights of hand and sophistication.
Even though the history of Islam has never been short on Special Effects. We just call them Miracles or Mu'jizaat -- plural for Mu'jizah.
It is Mu'jizah when a Rasul does it. And it is Karaamat when a good and pious Muslim does it.
And do not forget that the Greatest and the Most Powerful and the Ever-Living Mu'jizah of Islam is the Qur'an.
And the Qur'an is a Written Document -- from Almighty Allah!
Its methodology of choice is Rational Discourse. And the tools bestowed by Allah upon us for that reason are Reading and Writing.
And the Message of Islam is directed at all levels of human intelligence and technological sophistication, from the most illiterate to the most educated.
So, this tells me that Writing and Reading will live on for as long there is a trace of human life on this earth.
And that means if Muslims, even today, master Reading and Writing, along with Speaking, they will still change the world before the world even has time to say: Thank You!
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