The problem is that, as with Christianity, a lot of people who say they follow Islam don’t really understand what the Faith truly is. It’s a challenging religion by any standards, and adherence to it should result in an educated, well-rounded, person.

Unfortunately, there are some who use the Faith for their own purposes, instead of those of God. People who believe in using it as a weapon for their own aggrandizement and their own beliefs. These are the people who promote jihad as a military struggle instead of an intellectual and spiritual struggle. These are the people who want to subjugate women to a second-class status instead of the jewels that the Prophet said to treat them as. How do they get away with this? They promote illiteracy, encouraging people to not read the Qu’ran for themselves, but to trust them and what they say it says. Then they take parts of the Prophet’s words out of context and preach them to their followers.

It’s been done in other faiths, including my own, as well. (I would even argue that in some sects in the United States, it’s still going on.) In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church discouraged the reading of the Bible, and as late as the 17th Century were still saying that the Bible should never be translated from Latin (even though none of it was originally written in Latin!) into the vulgate, so that the common people would need to rely on what the Church told them was in the book instead of reading it for themselves.

Someone who has read the Words of the Prophet for himself or herself with an open mind, as I have (albeit in my case in translation as opposed to the original text), would have no alternative but to believe that Islam is a religion of peace and fulfillment. Likewise, I maintain to my friends who have been turned off by “Christian” teachings that anyone who actually reads the teachings of Jesus (as opposed to what certain preachers would have us think he said) would have no choice but to agree that the way of life he preached is a good way to live. (Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, turn the other cheek, and so on.)

Literacy is the cornerstone of free thought. It is the foundation of inquiry and inquisitiveness. It is vital, and probably the most important issue facing the world today. That’s why it’s been my pet project for years.

If there’s anything I can do to help you, please feel free to ask me.