"... surprisingly large number of Muslims have scant acquaintance with what it actually says. This is common to a degree that may surprise non-Muslims."
There are vast areas of our planet that are nominally muslim culturally but remain illiterate in their own language, let alone classical Arabic.
It has been said that no one can truly know the Koran, and therefore know the true word of God, unless he can read Arabic.
I would be interested to know what percentage of the world's self-proclaimed muslims have actually read the Koran, in Arabic. Start there. Then how many of that fraction also are familiar with the Hadith...?
I would be interested to know what percentage of the world's self-proclaimed muslims have actually read the Koran, in Arabic.
How many Christians actually read the Bible?