Read to Speak. Converse to Listen.

There are two habits I have increasingly come to appreciate as we grow older: 

reading deeply and conversing properly.

We normally associate reading with acquiring information, but I think its benefit is much wider. A person who reads regularly encounters language beyond their everyday vocabulary, arguments they have to follow, ideas they have to hold together, and perspectives they may not naturally arrive at themselves. Over time, this gives a person something to say and a better ability to say it. Reading does not automatically make someone a good speaker, but it gives the mind material with which to think, connect and articulate.

Perhaps this is one dimension worth reflecting upon when we consider that the first revealed command of the Qur'an was:

﴿اقْرَأْ بِاسْمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذِي خَلَقَ﴾

"Read in the name of your Lord who created."
(al-ʿAlaq 96:1)

The command was not simply to accumulate information. The verses continue by speaking about teaching, the pen and what the human being did not know. Islam introduced this Ummah to a culture in which learning was meant to remain a lifelong activity.

Modern research gives us another reason not to abandon that habit as we age.

Longitudinal studies of older adults have repeatedly found that cognitively stimulating activities, including reading, are associated with slower cognitive decline. One study found that a one-point increase in cognitive activity was associated with approximately a 19% reduction in the annual rate of cognitive decline. 

More recent research following 1,950 older adults found that higher levels of cognitive activity in later life were independently associated with substantially lower odds of developing Alzheimer's dementia. These are observational associations rather than a promise that reading will prevent dementia, but the consistency of the relationship is worth taking seriously.

There is another half to this that we perhaps neglect: conversation.

Good conversation exercises something reading cannot. It requires us to listen, process another person's meaning, recognise what they are actually saying rather than what we expected them to say, formulate a response, and sometimes revise our own position.

The Qur'an itself teaches this discipline. When Allah describes those who receive guidance, He says:

﴿الَّذِينَ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقَوْلَ فَيَتَّبِعُونَ أَحْسَنَهُ﴾

"Those who listen to what is said and follow the best of it."
(al-Zumar 39:18)

Notice that Allah praises listening before following what is best.

Perhaps this is particularly important in an age in which we consume enormous amounts of communication while engaging in surprisingly little conversation. Scrolling through posts, watching short videos and reading forwarded messages may expose us to information, but they do not necessarily require the sustained attention of reading a book or the intellectual and emotional presence required to sit with another human being and genuinely listen.

And this becomes increasingly important as we age. Research on cognitive reserve suggests that both cognitively stimulating activity and social engagement are associated with better cognitive trajectories in later life. In one long-running study of 1,697 older adults followed for up to 21 years, cognitive activities together with late-life social activity formed part of the cognitive reserve associated with more favourable cognitive trajectories.

Perhaps, then, we should think of reading and conversation as part of maintaining ourselves throughout life, much as we think about walking, exercise and diet.

Read something substantial enough to make the mind work. Then sit with people long enough to hear something you did not already know.

Read to become a better speaker, and converse to become a better listener.

There may be benefits in both that extend much further into our lives than we realise.

Your brother
Sajid Umar
Location: 'somewhere en route to the hereafter'
22/03/1448 (AH) - 04/09/2026