Read! In the Name of Your Lord!

It has been quite a while since my last post. I had been reading various writings, listening to various audio-commercial and spent quite substantial time watching television. One thing that keeps echoing in my mind is this first revelation from Allah to us.

I crossed reference with Tafsir Ibn-Kathir and Tafsir Azhar. The name of the Surah: al-'Alaq means a clot of blood. And the first verse read
Read! In the Name of Your Lord.
The verses continue until (The Lord) Who teaches men with a pen. This verse and the tafsir of it intrigue me most.

The word 'pen' has many levels of understanding. First it has always been a symbol of revelation, secondly it is a tool for a teacher to write and during the lessons, while writing the teacher also explains and gives example. Finally a pen is also a tool for a student to take note and in turn use it to memorise and ponder into the lesson until it becomes knowledge or ilmu. Syed Naquib al-Attas said that an ilmu is first to bring a meaning of something to oneself and then to bring oneself to the meaning of that something.

In the Quran we have a surah that ask us to read (al-'Alaq), we have a surah on poets (asy-Syu'araa') and a surah on pen itself (al-Qalam). All these reflect the tools and involvement of an author. It brings chill to my spine.

In asy-Syu'araa' Allah has given a clear warning towards those who writes aimlessly and mean only to deceive people or digress them from the path of Allah. And Allah too promises heavens to authors who write the truth and sincerely.

Putting two and two together. Not only when you read you must do it in the name of Allah, but also when you write. Allah teaches us to say a'udzubillahi min asy-syaithoni ar-rojim before we read the Quran. We should also recite this before we write as well as speak to pass an information or a lesson. Mind you satan is at every corner working at his optimum peak to trap you into his deceit.

Islam as beautiful, perfect and firm as it is has never left adab in any aspect inclusive of writing and news telling. It must always come from the right source, true, written in the right way with the right words and 'language'. Never use writing as only an emotional venting tool. It will be catastrophic not just for the author as it brings hard feelings among friends or society here on earth but also in the akhirat when we will have to answer and be responsible for each and every word we had written and wether or not we had done it justly. The effects get worse when more people read our writings and get influenced by it. Of course we always want it to be positively effective but what if it doesn't?

Next time, before we pen down those words clouding for so long in our minds and in our hearts, take a pause, say a'udzubillahi min asy-ayaitoni ar-rojim, bismillahi ar-rahmaan ar-rahim and ask yourself what do you want to write, why, to who and what will you get from it? What will other get from it? What does it bring to you here?... and hereafter?