Revelation, Rationality, Knowledge & Truth — Page 639
UNVEILING OF THE 'UNSEEN' BY THE QURAN – A HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE most powerful means of joining people together which is through wider wider extensive extensive publication of literature, newspapers, magazines etc. All the modes of transport referred to above have played their part in uniting the people of the world, but the role of the press can never be overshadowed or replaced by any other measure of uniting man. Take the role of the wide distribution of printed literature away from this age and mankind, despite the distances being reduced, will suddenly appear to fall apart once again. The people will become disjointed and isolated from each other. It was this modern state of the news media and the extensive publication of literature which is mentioned in the verse under discussion: وَإِذَا الصُّحُفُ تُشِرَتْ * 81:11. And when the books will be extensively published and spread. 35. Also implied in this prophecy is the invention of the modern press, otherwise it would not be possible for handwritten manuscripts to be extensively published and widely distributed. . An age of large-scale publication is also bound to be an age of intense proliferation of knowledge, research and investigation. The Holy Quran emphasizes the role of the pen so powerfully that it directly attributes to God the act of teaching humans how to write. . The following verses which are taken from Surah Al'Alaq, the very first Chapter revealed to the Holy Prophetsa emphatically pronounce: اِقْرَأْ وَرَبُّكَ الأَكْرَمُ * الَّذِى عَلَّمَ بِالْقَلَمِ * عَلَّمَ الْإِنْسَانَ مَا لَمْ يَعْلَمْ * 6-96:4 599