Reading may begin as a hobby, then grow into a passion. And when that passion becomes as essential to daily life as food and water, reading becomes an inseparable part of who we are, something that sustains and enriches our lives.

This, I believe, is what the Arab Reading Challenge seeks to achieve, even if it does not explicitly proclaim it as its mission: to make reading an indispensable part of life. For too long, Arabs have been portrayed as a people who do not read, a stereotype so frequently repeated that it has become deeply embedded in the public imagination. It is time to challenge that perception through programmes, initiatives and incentives such as the Arab Reading Challenge, championed by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, under the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. In my view, it is one of the most important initiatives aimed at advancing Arab society through education and culture, alongside the Hope Makers initiative.

The remarkable growth of the Arab Reading Challenge over its ten editions reflects its expanding reach and influence. Since its launch in 2015, participation has risen from 3.6 million students in its first edition to more than 40 million in its tenth, representing 60 countries and over 138,000 schools. These are impressive figures for a project built around encouraging students to read 50 books during the academic year and to discuss and demonstrate their understanding of what they have read. Today, Thursday, Dubai celebrates the winners of the tenth edition. Yet the greater value of this initiative lies beyond the names of the winners and the prizes awarded, in the lasting influence it may have on the lives of millions of children and young people.

Reading is far more than a means of acquiring information. It is one of the most important ways in which we come to understand ourselves and the world around us. To read is to live more than one life, to move beyond the limits of our own experience and enter the lives of others, to see the world through eyes other than our own. We may travel to many countries, but we cannot live through every age or know every human being. Books give us something of that extraordinary freedom, taking us to places we have never visited, times we have never lived through and minds we might otherwise never encounter.

To read is also to grow. Knowledge does not emerge from a vacuum. It accumulates across generations, and humanity’s scientific discoveries, intellectual achievements and advances are the work of minds that studied what came before them, then built upon it, corrected it or moved beyond it. A good reader is not simply someone who remembers what they have read, but someone who learns to question, debate, doubt and think, rather than accept everything presented as an unquestionable truth. True reading does more than fill the mind with information; it teaches us how to use knowledge and distinguish between competing ideas.

To read is also to become more civilised. Civilisation is not measured solely by towering buildings, wide roads or advanced technologies. It is also reflected in the depth of human awareness and our ability to understand those who differ from us and respect their right to be different. Literature, in particular, allows us to enter the lives of others and better understand their suffering, hopes and fears. Reading may not necessarily make us more tolerant, but it offers us the opportunity to recognise that the world is larger than our own ideas, experiences and prejudices.

Writers and thinkers have long recognised the value of reading. The great Arab poet Al Mutanabbi famously wrote that the best companion one can have is a book, a line that captures the enduring companionship offered by reading. Centuries later, the English philosopher Francis Bacon observed: “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” Though separated by centuries, the Arab poet and the English philosopher shared an understanding of the book’s importance in shaping the human mind.

What makes reading even more important today is that we live in an age of unprecedented information overload, when accessing information has become easier than reflecting upon it. Screens, social media and artificial intelligence offer instant answers to countless questions, but they do not necessarily give us the ability to think deeply or exercise sound judgement. Perhaps our need for thoughtful, sustained reading is greater today than ever before, not because information is scarce, but because it is so abundant that distinguishing genuine knowledge from noise has become increasingly difficult.

This is why the true value of the Arab Reading Challenge cannot be measured solely by the number of books students read during the competition or the millions who take part, important as those figures are. Its real achievement will be its ability to turn reading into a habit that continues long after the competition ends. What we hope for is not a student who reads 50 books to win a prize and then puts books aside, but one who discovers the pleasure of reading through the experience, making books a natural part of everyday life, returning to them by choice rather than at a teacher’s instruction or in pursuit of a reward.

When that happens, the initiative will have achieved something far greater than the success of a cultural competition. It will have helped raise generations who read, think and question, and who possess the intellectual tools to shape their own future. Nations do not progress merely through what they know today, but through their ability to continue learning and producing knowledge tomorrow.

Ultimately, the greatest success of the Arab Reading Challenge will not be found in participation figures, the number of books read or even the names of those who step onto the stage to receive their awards. It will be found in those who continue reading long after the competition is over, for whom books become lifelong companions. The prize honours those who have read; the real achievement is to raise generations who never stop reading.

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Abdul Hamid Ahmad is a UAE Writer and Columnist