Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 160
160 pursuit of knowledge to men only. He has similarly commanded women to seek knowledge. It is a matter of deep regret that, notwithstanding these peremptory injunctions, the standard of educational advancement of Muslim men and women, far from being superior to that of other people, is in fact comparatively very poor and low. Before the partition of India, the percentage of literacy among the Muslims was the lowest of all the nations in comparison to the Hindus, the Sikhs, the foreign Christians, and the Parsees. This exhibition of illiteracy does little credit to a people who owe allegiance to the most learned of world Reformers (May peace and blessings of Allah be on him). It is high time Muslims realised their obligation and set about not only leading but out-distancing the rest of mankind in the field of both secular and religious learning.