What originally prompted Malcom X to educate himself

Malcolm X was placed in jail after being imprisoned on multiple accounts. When he was introduced to the teachings of the Nation of Islam, he was prompted to read the entire dictionary and write down all of its contents. So naturally, as he did that, he began to educate himself. In his free time in prison he read and in a sense, he felt that the only way to be worthy of Allah or the Nation of Islam was to educate himself.