Muhammad and illiteracy: Difference between revisions

Humans have 5 senses for getting information from the outside world:

*Sight

*Touch

During Muhammad's time, his critics called him "an ear" (أذن, ''udhun''), which is confirmed in the Quran:

And among them are those who abuse the Prophet and say, "He is '''an ear''' (أذن, ''udhun'')."

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We also know that during Muhammad's time there was a man named Waraqa b. Naufal who studied the Bible and he wrote books in Arabic and he was close to Muhammad's first wife Khadija. He also became blind so we can expect he continued to teach the Bible verbally, when he could no longer write.

Khadija then took him to Waraqa b. Naufal b. Asad b. 'Abd al-'Uzza, and he was the son of Khadija's uncle, i. e., the brother of her father. And he was the man who had embraced Christianity in the Days of Ignorance (i. e. before Islam) and he used to write books in Arabic and, therefore, wrote Injil in Arabic as God willed that he should write. He was very old and had become blind Khadija said to him: O uncle! listen to the son of your brother.

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So Muhammad '''could''' get information without being able to read and he '''could''' give speeches which contain these information. And besides that, he could also be inspired by himself, by his wishes and he could use his imagination.

===The word ''ummiy'' in the Quran===

The word ''ummiy'' (أمي) appears 6 times in the Quran. Two times in the singular (verses 7:157-158) and four times in the plural form (verses 2:78, 3:20, 3:75 and 62:2). <ref>http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=Amm</ref> From the verses we will see that the word doesn't have to necessarily mean "illiterate", but can also mean "ignorant" or "pagan" or "gentile".

====Verses 7:157-158====

The two singular forms are in the verses 7:157 and 7:158 in the context of talking about Moses:

7:155 "And Moses chose from his people seventy men for Our appointment. And when the earthquake seized them, he said, "My Lord, if You had willed, You could have destroyed them before and me [as well]. Would You destroy us for what the foolish among us have done? This is not but Your trial by which You send astray whom You will and guide whom You will. You are our Protector, so forgive us and have mercy upon us; and You are the best of forgivers."

According to tafsir Ibn Kathir, it is a description of Muhammad in Jewish and Christian scripture and that rabbis and priests "well know" it:

(Those who follow the Messenger, '''the Prophet who can neither read nor write whom they find written with them in the Tawrah and the Injil,) This is the description of the Prophet Muhammad in the Books of the Prophets'''. They delivered the good news of his advent to their nations and commanded them to follow him. His descriptions were still apparent in their Books, as '''the rabbis and the priests well know'''.  

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====="Prediction" of an illiterate prophet in the Bible=====

A popular Islamic preacher Zakir Naik proposed that an illiterate prophet is predicted in Isaiah 29:12 <ref>http://www.unchangingword.com/illiterate-prophet/</ref>. According to Zakir Naik, the verse says:

This could be a prediction of what Aisha described:

But this is what Isaiah 29:12 actually says:

29:11 "For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.”"

====Verse 2:78====

One of the plural forms is in sura 2:

And among them are '''unlettered ones''' (أُمِّيُّونَ, ''ummeeoona'') who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming.

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Tafsir Al-Jalalayn says about the verse:

And there are some of them the Jews that are '''illiterate unlettered not knowing the Scripture''' the Torah but only desires lies which were handed down to them by their leaders and which they relied upon; and in their rejection of the prophethood of the Prophet and fabrications of other matters they have mere conjectures and no firm knowledge.

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====Verse 3:20====

Another is in the verse 3:20.

So if they argue with you, say, "I have submitted myself to Allah [in Islam], and [so have] those who follow me." And say to those who were given the Scripture '''and [to] the unlearned''' (وَالْأُمِّيِّينَ, ''wa-al-ummeena''), "Have you submitted yourselves?" And if they submit [in Islam], they are rightly guided; but if they turn away - then upon you is only the [duty of] notification. And Allah is Seeing of [His] servants.

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Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 3:20 says:

So if they the disbelievers dispute with you O Muhammad (s) concerning religion say to them ‘I have surrendered my countenance to God that is to say I have submitted to Him I and whoever follows me’ wajh ‘countenance’ is chosen here because of its noble character for the other parts of the body will just as soon surrender once the countenance has; and say to those who have been given the Scripture the Jews and the Christians '''and to the uninstructed the Arab idolaters''' ‘Have you submitted?’ that is to say ‘Submit!’ And so if they have submitted they have been guided from error but if they turn their backs to Islam your duty is only to deliver the Message; and God sees His servants and so requites them for their deeds — this statement was revealed before the command to fight them had been revealed.

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So here, according to the tafsir Al-Jalalayn, the word ''ummiy'' means gentile/pagan.

====Verse 3:75====

And among the People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return it to you. And among them is he who, if you entrust him with a [single] silver coin, he will not return it to you unless you are constantly standing over him [demanding it]. That is because they say, "There is no blame upon us concerning '''the unlearned''' (الْأُمِّيِّينَ, ''al-ummeena'')." And they speak untruth about Allah while they know [it].

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The tafsir Al-Jalalayn explains:

And of the People of the Scripture is he who if you trust him with a hundredweight that is with much money he will return it to you on account of his trustworthiness the like of ‘Abd Allāh b. Salām to whom a man entrusted 1200 plates of gold which he then returned to him; and of them is he who if you trust him with one dinar will not return it to you on account of his treachery; unless you keep standing over him not leaving him for one minute for as soon as you leave him he will deny it as was the case with Ka‘b b. al-Ashraf to whom a man from Quraysh entrusted a dinar and later denied it. '''That refusal to return things is because they say ‘We have no duty towards namely no possibility of acquiring sin because of the Gentiles’ the Arabs; for they considered it lawful to be unjust towards any person of a different religion''' and they attributed the source of this conviction to God exalted be He. God exalted be He says They speak falsehood against God by attributing such things to Him while they are aware that they are liars.

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====Verse 62:2====

62:2 "It is He who has sent among '''the unlettered''' (الْأُمِّيِّينَ, ''al-ummeen'') a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error -"

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In 62:2,  according to the tafsir Al-Jalalayn, the word means illiterate and refers to the illiterate Arabs:

It is He Who sent to the unlettered folk among the Arabs '''ummī means ‘one who cannot write or read a book’''' a messenger from among them namely Muhammad (s) to recite to them His signs the Qur’ān and to purify them to cleanse them from idolatry and to teach them the Book the Qur’ān and wisdom in the rulings that it contains though indeed wa-in in has been softened from the hardened form with its subject having been omitted that is to say understand it as wa-innahum before that before his coming they had been in manifest error.}}

Ibn Kathir says "other" in 62:3 means Persians:

The Prophet explained Allah's statement,

The Lane's lexicon says this about ''ummiy'':

أُمِّىٌّ

====Hadiths====

كتب (''kataba'') means "he wrote":

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

It is estimated that around 40% of the Muslim population today is illiterate <ref>http://www.iinanews.com/page/public/report.aspx?id=10377#.WsC4q6iWaUk</ref>. The word ''ummah'' (أمة) itself is derived from the same root as ''ummi'' (أمي).

==See also==