The obvious answer is that he/she was a child, and simply received the religion from the parents. As far as I can tell, most people are religious because their upbringing was, and of those most simply adopt an interpretation of the religion they were brought up under.
Even in adulthood I'd be absolutely astonished if even 50% of any major religion have read to completion the core text of that religion, indeed I would expect the number to be far lower.
Many non-arabic Muslims have not read the Koran, at least not most of it. There are a couple of reasons for this:
Most importantly, translations of Koran are not equated to the real thing, i.e. a Koran in English is not the Koran, it's only a translation. This has historically been a handicap for the "common people" to have access to the book. This situation was also backed by the religious elite (although Islam lacks a religious caste like Christianity, there are still hodjas, etc. who are the ones who interpret the writings). Remember that the Enlightenment in Europe was due in some part to the wide access to the Bible in the vernacular languages, e.g. the King James' version.
Another reason is that, for devout Muslims, there are a set of rules that must be obeyed to touch the Koran, one has to be clean. So (theoretically) you can't just grab it, lean back on the couch and read it. In houses it is not placed with other books on the shelf but usually in a separate cloth cover, above all books. This reverence for it has the paradoxical effect of curtailing access to its content.
All correct. I would also add that I (along with many other non-Arab muslims) had read the Koran at a very young age in Arabic phonetically without understanding what it means. As far as my parents (and our sunday school teachers) were concerned, it was just as good. It wasn't until later that I tracked down a translation.
Excellent point, which I've forgot. My mom and her neighbors perform the hatim during religious festivals using exactly the method you describe, without knowing one word of Arabic and without understanding anything. Reading in the native tongue is just not done.
As far as access to the contents of the Koran, Islam truly has some medieval qualities.
Perfectly valid question with a simple answer. I wasn't born with the ability to read, so between the time I was born and the time I could read and comprehend a translation of the Koran, I was a muslim who hadn't read the Koran.
