“I have been banging a drum for so long that there’s a correlation between illiteracy and going to prison. Between 50% and 75% of all prisoners can’t read. You are looking at a prison population that’s upwards of 75% illiterate or semi-literate.”

Minette Walters. The Guardian.co.uk

 

Now this statement by the best selling author, Minette Walters, should come as no surprise, and is actually based on good evidence available at Her Majesty’s Prison Service website. It actually makes complete sense too. An individual is unable to read, ergo function in the modern capitalist system, and then turns to crime to circumnavigate life and actually survive.

 

 

Poor literacy is actually rampant in the UK. The BBC’s Becky Woosey, reported that, ‘There are currently 67 million adults living the UK, 8 million of which are considered to be functionally illiterate.  Figures for this year show that this part of the UK adult population are unable not just to read and write, but also have an inability to locate, evaluate, use, and communicate using a wide range of resources including text, visual, audio, and video sources.’ This should be alarming, as when you reconcile it with the figures of the offender population it seems clear that illiteracy is a problem for us all. Illiteracy is a social issue for both the illiterate and the literate as ultimately both share the burden of the unlettered mind.

 

 

The unlettered person exists in a desperate situation in the modern society and is exposed to being used and exploited by society’s most deviant miscreants. And therefore it comes as no surprise why God in his infinite wisdom, revealed the first word of his final testament, The Quran, to be ‘Read’.

 

 

The first word of the Quran is ‘Iqra’, in English, Read or Recite, and this is something which really is of much significance. Why is it that God chose the first word of his final revelation to be that of Read? The apparent reasoning for this is the importance of the intellect, and the need to preserve it.

 

 

The intellect is something which must be honoured and society must provide the fertile ground for it to flourish as innovation is dependent on it. When one strolls through the corridors of history it is apparent the golden age of any people is, when they excel in education and the emancipated mind is the mind of the time. It comes as no surprise that when you explore the ancient Greek civilisation you find great minds like Socrates and Plato, when you revel in the progression of the Islamic empire you are forced but to contemplate the impact of Al Jazari’s Castle Water Clock or Serafeddin Sabuncuoglu Atlas to Paediatric Surgery, this is simply the testimony of history. Hence Okinitsu says, When You Learn You Earn!

 

 

Therefore it is essential that society pays attention to education and moreover encourages progressive thought. The Quran actually goes to the extent of making this an obligation upon both individuals and society, by calling for mankind to excel in contemplation and reflection and actually achieving understanding. Hence we find God Commands his Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) to pray for this;

 

“And say: ‘My Lord! Increase me in knowledge”

The Quran, Chapter 20, Verse, 114

 

 

Therefore the acquisition of knowledge is something truly important for both the individual and the society in which he seeks to operate. On an individual knowledge and education represent the keys to freedom, and on a social level they represent the keys to discovery and development.

 

 

Now this begs the question with both the spiritual and material cases being so strong, why is there so much illiteracy? Fine, we can understand that when the BBC report that there are nearly 1billion people on the planet who are functionally illiterate, much of these will be so due to no access to education and resource issues, but why here? Why here in one of the richest countries in the world? Why is it in Bradford there are still adults who are unable to read and those who are able to, from the adult population, there are some with a reading age of nine years old?

 

 

Not being a sociologist, it’s hard to provide the definitive answer. However being someone with an interest in religion it seems apparent that with the breakdown of religious observance, and consequently the reading of the manual to life that divine scripture represents, many people in society find no hunger to learn through their formative years. They find satisfaction in many a distraction until its too late and they have slipped through the system, henceforth it is not until they are entertained by the Learning and Skills Council at Her Majesty’s Pleasure they actually find a need to learn.

 

You, Him, Her and I all need to give knowledge a chance. We need to see why it is that God has placed so much an emphasis on the acquisition of knowledge. The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) illustrate God’s love for knowledge, with his statement; “Whoever follows a path in the pursuit of knowledge, Allaah will make a path to Paradise easy for him.” This was a point that was clearly taken on board by early Muslims, as we see the Golden Age of Islam followed the revelation of the Quran, and we find a demise in the Islamic civilisation correlated with the decline of literacy in the Islamic world.

 

 

Knowledge = Emancipation of the soul and the purse, and therefore its something we should all seek to develop in. Many a people reading this will not go past reading such a magazine or the menu most likely sat on the table next to where this was picked up, and if your from those, here’s a tip, Read a Good Book! And once you have done that read another, listen to a lecture, and last of all just have a good think, and soon enough you will find the whole world around you just changed. Ibn Al Qayim Al Jawziya, a Muslim Theologian Who died in 1350 shared some advice on the seeking of knowledge which makes the whole journey easier, so if your just about to start walking the road of enlightenment using the knowledge flyover, consider his etiquettes of learning, it just may hold you in good stead;

 

 

Firstly: Ask questions in a good manner.

Secondly: Remain quiet and listen attentively.

Thirdly: Understand well.

Fourthly: Memorise

Fifthly: Teach

Sixthly: and it is its fruit: Act upon the knowledge

 

 

If we all did this, maybe just maybe, we could all help one another and improve access to education for all, and make sense of why it is God says in the Quran;

 

“And cooperate in righteousness and piety”

 The Quran, Chapter 5, Verse 2