Why Don’t Sunnis Advocate Mass Illiteracy?

A standard narrative among traditionalists is that the Prophet Muhammad was illiterate. They claim he could not read or write during the ~63 years he was on this planet. In other words, over the span of twenty years, he was delivering the Quran; he either never took the time to learn to read or write, or was incapable of doing so.

If this is the case, then why don’t the Sunni Ulama advocate for mass illiteracy so they can emulate the Sunnah of the Prophet, as they believe the example they set forth of him through their Hadith and Sunnah is the best? This shows the hypocrisy of the Sunnis themselves, that they ascribe to the Prophet what they wouldn’t want for themselves. So rather than reflecting on their own hypocrisy, they attempt to tarnish the reputation of the Prophet.

Aside from the proof from the verses of the Quran that indicate the Prophet did, in fact, read and write, or from the Sunni sources that demonstartate that this accusation of illiteracy was a later stage development, the narrative carries with it a far more serious charge: it effectively accuses the Prophet of either being mentally deficient or, even worse, of hypocrisy.

According to the Quran, the behavior most loathed by God is hypocrisy.

[61:2] O you who believe, why do you say what you do not do? [61:3] Most abominable in the sight of GOD is that you say what you do not do.

If the Prophet were illiterate, yet spent his mission urging people to pursue knowledge, to read, to write, and to educate one another, this would mean—by the Quran’s own definition—that he was guilty of the most abominable behavior.

In The History of the Qur’anic Text (2nd ed., pp. 59–60), Muhammad Mustafa al-Azami highlights how the Prophet strongly advocated for literacy.

“Read! in the name of your Lord and Cherisher, Who created.” (Qur’an 96:1) There are no indications that the Prophet ever studied the art of the pen, and it is generally believed that he remained unlettered throughout his life. The above verse then, the very start of revelation, provides a clue—not about his own literacy, but about the importance of establishing a robust educational policy for the masses that were to come. Indeed, he employed every possible measure to spread the spirit of education, describing the merits and rewards for learning as well as the punishment for withholding knowledge. Abū Huraira reports that the Prophet said,

“If anyone pursues a path in search of knowledge, Allah will thereby make easy for him a path to paradise.”

Conversely he warned,

“He who is asked about something he knows and conceals it will have a bridle of fire placed around him on the Day of Resurrection.”

He ordered the literate and illiterate to cooperate with one another and admonished those who did not learn from, or teach, their neighbors. A special significance was given to the skill of writing, which in one hadith is described as the duty of a father towards his son. He also championed free education; when ʿUbāda bin aṣ-Ṣāmit accepted a bow from a student as a gift (which he intended to use in the cause of Islam), the Prophet rebuked him,

“If it pleases you to place a bridle of fire around your neck then accept that gift.”

Even non-Muslims were employed in teaching literacy.

“Ransoms for the prisoners of Badr varied. Some of them were told to instruct children on how to write.”

In the book, The Hidden Pearls in the Biography of the Prophet of the Beleivers (Al-Luʾluʾ al-maknūn fī sīrat al-nabī al-maʾmūn) by al-Mūsā b. Rāshid al-ʿĀzimī; it states that it was the Prophet’s mission to lay the foundation to eradicate illiteracy.

Dr. Muhammad Abu Shahba, may Allah have mercy on him, said: The Prophet ﷺ’s acceptance of teaching reading and writing as a substitute for ransom at a time when they were in dire need of money shows us the nobility of Islam in its view of knowledge, learning, and eradicating illiteracy. This is not surprising from a religion whose first revelation in its noble book was: “Read in the name of your Lord who created (1) Created man from a clot (2) Read, and your Lord is Most Generous (3) Who taught by the pen (4) Taught man that which he knew not” (1). The texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah abound in encouraging the pursuit of knowledge and clarifying the status of scholars. Through this noble act, the Messenger ﷺ is considered the first to lay the foundation for eradicating illiteracy and spreading reading and writing, and thus Islam holds the precedence in this regard (2).

قال الدكتور محمد أبو شهبة رحمه الله تعالى: وقبول النبي ﷺ تعليم القراءة والكتابة بدل الفداء في هذا الوقت الذي كانوا فيه بأشد الحاجة إلى المال، يرينا سمو الإسلام، في نظرته إلى العلم والمعرفة وإزالة الأمية، وليس هذا بعجيب من دين كان أول ما نزل من كتابه الكريم: ﴿اقرأ باسم ربك الذي خلق(١)خلق الإنسان من علق(٢)اقرأ وربك الأكرم(٣)الذي علم بالقلم(٤)علم الإنسان ما لم يعلم﴾(١).واستفاضت فيه نصوص القرآن والسنة في الترغيب في العلم، وبيان منزلة العلماء، وبهذا العمل الجليل يعتبر الرسول ﷺ أول من وضع حجر الأساس في إزالة الأمية، وإشاعة القراءة والكتابة، وأن السبق في هذا للإسلام(٢).

Here lies the central dilemma. Sunnis claim that the Prophet was illiterate, yet they also insist that he is the best example for all believers to follow. At the same time, their own sources depict the Prophet as actively championing literacy, encouraging the pursuit of knowledge, and even making education a form of ransom at Badr. This creates a contradiction.

If the Prophet truly remained illiterate while commanding others to read and write, then by the Quran’s own standard, he would fall into hypocrisy—saying what he did not do. On the other hand, if he genuinely was the best example and he was illiterate, then illiteracy itself should be promoted and emulated by the Sunni masses. Why, then, don’t the Sunni ulama openly advocate for mass illiteracy in order to follow the Prophet’s Sunna as they depict it? Their silence here exposes the absurdity of their claim: they elevate illiteracy as a defining feature of the Prophet, yet refuse to take the obvious next step of urging believers to abandon reading and writing in imitation of him.

Sunnis, therefore, are left with two untenable options since they refuse to denounce their own hypocrisy: either they portray the Prophet as too unintelligent to learn reading and writing over two decades, or they accuse him of hypocrisy for advocating what he himself supposedly never practiced. In both scenarios, it is the Prophet’s reputation that suffers—not from his actions, but from the distortions of tradition.