Irqa

Irqa- "READ!" The angel Gabriel commanded the prophet Mohammad. Mohammad, a poor orphan who was tossed from family to family as a child stuttered, "I can not read."

"READ" again the angel commanded.

"I can not," the poor man said again, not sure where this conversation with the divine was going.

"READ what I put in your mind" the angel finally said, and began to deliver his proclamation.

And so began the importance of literacy in the Arabic world. When Europe trudged thru the illiterate dark ages, the Muslim world already had over 800 years of social literacy. Children were required to go to school and learn to read the Quaran.

READ

The Quaran is the background of this piece. In the foreground is the Bismallah, the Islamic Confession of faith. The word Allah is cut from the Bismallah giving a view of the Quaran. The specific thing that Muslims are commanded to read.

So READ!