Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Ali Abdullatif Ahmida, The Making 

of Modern Libya: State Formation, Colonialization, and 

Resistance, 1830–1932 (Albany: State University of New 

York Press, 1994); Mahmoud Ayoub, Islam and the 

Third Universal Theory: The Religious Thought of Muam-

mar al-Qaddhafi (London: KPI Limited, 1987); Dirk 

Vandewalle,  A History of Modern Libya (Cambridge: 

Cambridge University Press, 2006).

literacy

Traditions of literacy have been fundamental to 

the growth and maintenance of Islamicate societ-

ies throughout the world. According to Sura 96 of 

the  q

Uran

, often considered the first revelation 

delivered to m

Uhammad

 by the angel g

abriel

,

K  444  

literacy

---

Muhammad was commanded to read (iqra). The 

scriptural nature of Islam made literacy a primary 

vehicle for the dissemination of the faith, as well 

as a virtue for pious Muslims wanting to read the 

Quran and other religious texts.

As the Islamic religion spread beyond the Ara-

bian Peninsula, Arabic, the language of the Quran, 

became a lingua franca for trade and government 

as well as religious 

edUcation

 and the literary arts.

Prominent notables, as well as merchants and 

professionals, were careful to give their children 

the gift of literacy, at least in the Quran. More-

over, prominent institutions of learning, such as 

the House of Wisdom in b

aghdad

 and al-a

zhar

University in c

airo

, flourished at the height of the 

Islamicate empires.

Despite the rich legacy of literacy in Mus-

lim lands, however, widespread literacy has been 

a more recent phenomenon, as in many other 

regions of the globe, as a result of the introduction 

of the printing press and, more recently, new elec-

tronic technologies. Modern governments in the 

Middle East have had varying success in spreading 

literacy in the postcolonial era. Reformers such as 

the Iraqi Sati al-Husri (1869–1967) proclaimed the 

importance of mass education for the success of 

the modern nation-state, while President J

amal

 a

bd

al

-n

asir

 (d. 1970) expanded university education 

far beyond its traditional class boundaries in Egypt. 

Policies such as these did much to bring mass liter-

acy closer to a reality for the modern Middle East.

However, many Muslim countries continue 

to struggle with literacy at the dawn of the 21st 

century. For example, among the largest Muslim 

populations in 2005, Indonesians had a literacy 

rate of 87.9 percent, but Pakistan’s was 48.7 per-

cent and Bangladesh’s was 41.1 percent. The lit-

eracy rate among India’s Muslim population was 

59.1 percent. As of 2005 Egypt had a literacy rate 

of 55.6 percent, Sudan a rate of 59 percent, Iran a 

rate of 80 percent, and Saudi Arabia a rate of 79.4 

percent. Jordan and Lebanon have been the most 

successful Arab nations in terms of literacy, reach-

ing a rate of over 86 percent in 2005, while Israel 

had a rate of 96.9 percent. In t

Urkey

 it was 88.3 

percent. Although the majority of adults living in 

Muslim countries are literate, there is still much 

work to be done in a number of areas to achieve 

literacy rates that match those of top-tier coun-

tries of the world.

See also 

adab

; a

rabic

 

langUage

 

and

 

literatUre

; 

books

 

and

 

bookmaking

; 

kuttab

; 

madrasa

; 

Ulama

.

Nancy L. Stockdale