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Muhammad and illiteracy: Difference between revisions
→The meaning of ummiy
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===The meaning of ''ummiy''=== | ===The meaning of ''ummiy''=== | ||
The word is derived from the root أمم. There are 119 words in the Quran, derived from this root <ref>http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=Amm</ref>. There are other words besides ''ummiy'' (أمي): | |||
* ''umm'' (أم) - mother | |||
* ''amam'' (امام) - in front of | |||
* ''imam'' (إمام) - leader (because he is "in front of" others) | |||
* ''ummah'' (أمة) - the (Islamic) community/nation | |||
The Lane's lexicon says this about ''ummiy'': | |||
{{Quote|Lane's lexicon on أُمِّىٌّ <ref>http://lexicon.quranic-research.net/data/01_a/128_!m.html</ref>| | |||
أُمِّىٌّ | |||
(T, M, Mgh, Mṣb, Ḳ) and ↓أُمَّانٌ (Ḳ) [the former a rel. n. from أُمَّةٌ, and thus '''properly meaning Gentile''': whence, in a secondary, or tropical, sense,(assumed tropical:) '''a heathen''';] (assumed tropical:) '''one not having a revealed scripture'''; (Bḍ in iii. 19 and 69;) so applied by those having a revealed scripture: (Bḍ in iii.69:) '''[and particularly] an Arab''': (Jel in iii. 69, and Bḍ and Jel in lxii. 2:) [or] in the proper language [of the Arabs], of, '''or belonging to, or relating to, the nation (أُمَّة) of the Arabs, who did not write nor read''': and therefore '''metaphorically applied to (tropical:) any one not knowing the art of writing nor that of reading''': (Mgh:) or (assumed tropical:) '''one who does not write; (T, M, Ḳ;) because the art of writing is acquired; as though he were thus called in relation to the condition in which his mother (أُمَّهُ) brought him forth''': (T:) or (assumed tropical:) one who is in the natural condition of the nation (الأُمَّة) to which he belongs, (Zj, * T, M, * Ḳ, *) in respect of not writing, (T,) or not having learned writing; thus remaining in his natural state: (M, Ḳ:) or (assumed tropical:) one who does not write well; said to be a rel. n. from أمٌّ; because the art of writing is acquired, and such a person is as his mother brought him forth, in respect of ignorance of that art; or, as some say, from أُمَّةُ العَرَبِ; because most of the Arabs were of this description: (Mṣb:) the art of writing was known among the Arabs [in the time of Moḥammad] by the people of Et-Táïf, who learned it from a man of the people of El-Heereh, and these had it from the people of El-Ambár. (T.) أُمِّيُّون لَا يَعْلَمُونَ, الكِتَابَ, in the Ḳur ii. 73, means Vulgar persons, [or heathen,] who know not the Book of the Law revealed to Moses: (Jel:) or ignorant persons, who know not writing, so that they may read that book; or, who know not the Book of the Law revealed to Moses. (Bḍ.) '''Moḥammad was termed أُمِّىّ [meaning A Gentile, as distinguished from an Israelite: or, accord. to most of his followers, meaning illiterate;] because the nation (أُمَّة) of the Arabs did not write, nor read writing; and [they say that] God sent him as an apostle when he did not write, nor read from a book; and this natural condition of his was one of his miraculous signs, to which reference is made in the Ḳur [xxix. 47], where it is said, “thou didst not read, before it, from a book, nor didst thou write it with thy right hand:” (T, TA:) but accord. to the more correct opinion, he was not well acquainted with written characters nor with poetry, but he discriminated between good and bad poetry: or, as some assert, he became acquainted with writing after he had been unacquainted therewith, on account of the expression “ before it ”''' in the verse of the Ḳur mentioned above: or, as some say, this may mean that he wrote though ignorant of the art of writing, like as some of the kings, being أُمِّيُّون, write their signs, or marks: (TA:) or, accord. to Jaạfar Es-Sádik, he used to read from the book, or scripture, if he did not write. (Kull p. 73.) [Some judicious observations on this word are comprised in Dr. Sprenger's Life of Moḥammad (pp. 101-2); a work which, in the portion already published (Part I.), contains much very valuable information.] | |||
― | |||
Also, (Ḳ,) or [only] أُمِّىٌّ, (AZ, T, M,) applied to a man, (AZ, T,) Impotent in speech, (عَيِىّ, in the Ḳ incorrectly written غَبِىّ, TA,) of few words, and rude, churlish, uncivil, or surly. (AZ, T, M, Ḳ.) | |||
}} | |||
Online Arabic dictionary says about ummiy: | |||
{{Quote|Almaany.com on أمي <ref>https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/%D8%A3%D9%85%D9%8A/</ref>| | |||
Translation and Meaning of أمي in Almaany English Arabic Dictionary | |||
أُمّيّ ( اسم ): | |||
illiterate ; uneducated ; unlettered | |||
- | |||
- illiterate | |||
- unable to read or uneducated | |||
- an illiterate person | |||
- not educated; illiterate | |||
- illiterate, not well educated | |||
أُمّيّ ( اسم ): | |||
maternal ; mother ; motherly | |||
- | |||
- maternal | |||
- typical of or connected with being a mother | |||
- of a female parent of a child or animal | |||
- of or relating to mother | |||
}} | |||
* اسم (''ism'') means "a noun". | |||
So this word has a variety of meanings. We could speculate that it could even mean "motherly" (derived from ''umm'' - mother), because Muhammad's father died before Muhammad was born and he lived only with his mother. | |||
===Indications he was literate=== | ===Indications he was literate=== | ||