Literacy in a Changing World: An Islamic Reflection from Virtue to Necessity

Literacy in a Changing World: An Islamic Reflection from Virtue to Necessity

UNESCO observes September 8 as International Literacy Day, an occasion to reaffirm the importance of literacy and education and to draw attention to the millions who are still denied opportunities to learn. It is also an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of literacy itself—a concept that continues to evolve with changes in human life. If literacy once meant primarily the ability to read and write, that definition is no longer sufficient. Living in a world increasingly shaped by digital technologies, social media, artificial intelligence, and an unprecedented volume of information requires new forms of knowledge and competence.

International Literacy Day therefore invites us to ask not only how many people can read and write, but also: What does it mean to be literate today, and what knowledge and skills are necessary to live consciously, responsibly, and with dignity?

If literacy was once regarded mainly as a virtue or personal advantage, today—in its broader and evolving sense—it has become a necessity.

A Global Challenge Still Unfinished

Despite major advances in education, hundreds of millions of people still lack even basic literacy skills. According to UNESCO, at least 739 million youth and adults worldwide lacked basic literacy skills in 2024. Four in ten children do not achieve minimum proficiency in reading, and 272 million children and adolescents were out of school in 2023. For millions of children, poverty and child labor remain serious barriers to education. The latest estimates from the International Labor Organization and UNICEF show that nearly 138 million children were engaged in child labor in 2024, including 54 million in hazardous work.

Child labor occurs in farms, markets, domestic work, mines, factories, construction sites, workshops, and other settings; about 61% takes place in agriculture. For many children, work competes directly with school. War, insecurity, displacement, and destruction of educational infrastructure can have similarly devastating effects.A child who should be learning to read, think, question, and develop his or her abilities should not be forced by poverty, conflict, or insecurity to exchange the classroom for hazardous labor or a life without education.

Literacy is therefore not merely an educational issue. It is closely connected to human dignity, poverty reduction, gender equality, child protection, peace, and social justice.

What Does It Mean to Be Literate Today?

Reading and writing remain foundational, but contemporary literacy requires more.

“Digital literacy” includes the ability to use digital technologies confidently and critically—to find, evaluate, produce, exchange, and communicate information. This is increasingly important because access to information does not automatically produce knowledge.

A person may encounter hundreds of messages, posts, videos, and claims every day while lacking the ability to distinguish reliable information from misinformation, evidence from assertion, scholarship from propaganda, or authentic religious teaching from misleading online content.

People today also need broader “life skills.” UNICEF identifies twelve transferable skills across four areas:

1. Creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving;
2. Cooperation, negotiation, and decision-making;
3. Self-management, resilience, and communication;
4. Respect for diversity, empathy, and participation.

These skills are not identical to literacy, but together with basic and digital literacy, they form part of the knowledge and capacities needed to navigate contemporary life responsibly.

Preparing the Next Generation for Its Own Time

A well-known saying attributed to Imam Ali (p) conveys an educational insight with particular relevance today: “Do not compel your children to conform to the ways of your own time, for they have been created for a time different from yours” (Ibn Abī al-Ḥadid, Sharḥ Nahj al-Balaghah, vol. 20, p. 267, saying 102, among sayings attributed to Imam Ali).

The principle is clear: enduring moral values remain essential, but the knowledge and skills required for responsible living change with societies and technologies. Education must therefore prepare children not only for the world their parents knew, but for the world in which they themselves will live.

Literacy and a Deeper Understanding of Religion

Islam calls believers not merely to receive or repeat religious information, but to seek deeper understanding: “Why should not a group from every community go forth to gain a deeper understanding of religion and then warn their people when they return to them, so that they may become mindful?” (9:122)

The Quranic expression لِيَتَفَقَّهُوا فِي الدِّينِ—to develop a deep understanding of religion—goes far beyond superficial familiarity.

Today, literacy is one of the necessary foundations for such understanding. Reading sacred texts and reliable scholarship, understanding context, comparing interpretations, evaluating sources, recognizing misinformation, and navigating religious content online all require literacy and critical thinking.

Religious literacy, therefore, involves more than familiarity with religious terminology or practices. It includes the ability to read, understand, inquire, verify, reflect, and distinguish reliable knowledge from unsupported claims.

Education Is a Shared Responsibility

Ensuring access to education is not solely the responsibility of parents, schools, or governments. It is a shared human responsibility and, for people of faith, an ethical and religious duty. Families, communities, religious institutions, civil society, governments, and the international community all have a role in ensuring that every school-age child can attend school and receive a quality education.

Poverty should not send a child to work instead of school. War and insecurity should not steal years of education. Displacement, discrimination, disability, or lack of resources should not determine who is able to learn and who is left behind. For Muslims, supporting education is closely connected to the duty to seek knowledge, protect human dignity, and enable every person to develop the abilities Allah has given them. A society cannot sincerely celebrate knowledge while allowing children to be deprived of the opportunity to acquire it.

No child should lose the classroom to poverty, war, insecurity, displacement, or hazardous labor. Every child deserves not merely access to school, but “quality education” that enables them to learn, think, grow, develop their abilities, and build a future.

Learning to read is essential. Learning to understand, discern, communicate, and live wisely with what we read is the literacy our time demands—and making such learning possible for every child is a responsibility we all share.