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Muhammad and illiteracy: Difference between revisions
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{{QualityScore|Lead=2|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=2|References=3}} | {{QualityScore|Lead=2|Structure=4|Content=4|Language=2|References=3}} | ||
'''Muhammad's literacy''' is a commonly mentioned topic in regards to the historicity, revelation, and compiling of the Quran. Many Muslim scholars have argued that Muhammad's illiteracy is evidence that the Quran is a divine miracle. However, skeptics disagree that this is enough to constitute a miracle and challenge the claim altogether. | '''Muhammad's literacy''' is a commonly mentioned topic in regards to the historicity, revelation, and compiling of the Quran. Many Muslim scholars have argued that Muhammad's illiteracy is evidence that the Quran is a divine miracle. However, skeptics disagree that this is enough to constitute a miracle and challenge the claim altogether. Some modern academic scholars have argued that the Quran does not in fact describe Muhammad as illiterate, and that this was a reinterpretation arising some time after his death. | ||
==Transfer of Information== | ==Transfer of Information== | ||
Humans have many means by which information transfer is possible | Humans have many means by which information transfer is possible. Verbal communication, historically, was the main mode of information sharing. Many civilizations, their histories, mythologies, and stories have been kept alive as they are passed down orally from one generation to the next. | ||
Verbal communication, historically, was the main mode of information sharing. Many civilizations, their histories, mythologies, and stories have been kept alive as they are passed down orally from one generation to the next. | |||
During Muhammad's time, his critics called him "an ear" (أذن, ''udhun''), which is confirmed in the Quran: | During Muhammad's time, his critics called him "an ear" (أذن, ''udhun''), which is confirmed in the Quran: | ||
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==Was Muhammad illiterate?== | ==Was Muhammad illiterate?== | ||
===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>. | 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>. Other words besides ''ummiy'' (أمي) from the same root are: | ||
*''umm'' (أم) - mother | *''umm'' (أم) - mother | ||
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*''ummah'' (أمة) - the (Islamic) community/nation | *''ummah'' (أمة) - the (Islamic) community/nation | ||
Lane's Lexicon of classical Arabic says this about ''ummiy'' specifically: | |||
{{Quote|Lane's lexicon on أُمِّىٌّ| | {{Quote|Lane's lexicon on أُمِّىٌّ| | ||
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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.)}} | 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.)}} | ||
===The word ''ummiy'' in the Quran=== | |||
The word ''ummiy'' (أمي) appears 6 times in the Quran. Two times in the singular in relation to Muhammad himself (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 these verses quoted below we will see that the word doesn't have to necessarily mean "illiterate", but can also mean "ignorant" or "not given a scripture". | |||
In his commentary on the Quran, Gabriel Said Reynolds (a modern academic scholar) points to verse 3:20 as evidence that the word refers to those who do not know the word of God (similarly verses 3:75 and 62:2).<ref>Reynolds, Gabriel Said, "The Quran and Bible:Text and Commentary", New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 2018 p.54 (commentary on Q. 2:78-9)</ref> Thus, Muhammad is described as an ummi prophet in verses 7:157-158 because he came from a people to whom God had not yet sent down revelation, not because he was illiterate. As Reynolds further points out (crediting Holger Zelletin), verses 29:47-48, which are commonly cited to interpret the other verses on this topic, deny that Muhammad wrote the Quran himself, yet this does not imply that he could not read: | |||
{{Quote|{{Quran-range|29|47|48}}|And thus We have sent down to you the Qur'an. And those to whom We [previously] gave the Scripture believe in it. And among these [people of Makkah] are those who believe in it. And none reject Our verses except the disbelievers. And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.}} | |||
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====Chapter 2 Verse 78==== | ====Chapter 2 Verse 78==== | ||
One of the plural forms is in sura 2: | One of the plural forms is in sura 2: | ||
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====Chapter 3 Verse 20==== | ====Chapter 3 Verse 20==== | ||
Another is in | Another is in verse 3:20 (see above regarding Reynolds' commentary about this and similar verses). | ||
{{Quote|{{Quran|3|20}}| | {{Quote|{{Quran|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.}} | 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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{{Quote|Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 3:75| | {{Quote|Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 3:75| | ||
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.}} | 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.}} | ||
So from this verse it seem to indicate that ummiy means gentile. | So from this verse it seem to indicate that ummiy means gentile, those not given a scripture. | ||
====Chapter 7 Verses 157-158==== | ====Chapter 7 Verses 157-158==== | ||
The two singular forms are in the verses 7:157 and 7:158 in the context of talking about Moses: | The two singular forms are in the verses 7:157 and 7:158 in the context of talking about Moses: | ||
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7:159 "And among the people of Moses is a community which guides by truth and by it establishes justice."}} | 7:159 "And among the people of Moses is a community which guides by truth and by it establishes justice."}} | ||
So the information about Muhammad's illiteracy was for some reason inserted into a passage which talks about Moses. The context doesn't provide any indication as to what the word ''ummiy'' means here. | So the information about Muhammad's illiteracy (as orthodoxy interpreted the word, but alternatively his coming from a people without a scripture) was for some reason inserted into a passage which talks about Moses. The context doesn't provide any indication as to what the word ''ummiy'' means here. | ||
According to tafsir Ibn Kathir, it is a description of Muhammad in Jewish and Christian scripture and that rabbis and priests "well know" it: | According to tafsir Ibn Kathir, it is a description of Muhammad in Jewish and Christian scripture and that rabbis and priests "well know" it: | ||
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This shift from ''"and what shall I read"'' (وما اقرأ) to ''"I don't know how to read"'' (مَا أَنَا بِقَارِئٍ) seems to indicate that Muhammad's illiteracy was a later invention. | This shift from ''"and what shall I read"'' (وما اقرأ) to ''"I don't know how to read"'' (مَا أَنَا بِقَارِئٍ) seems to indicate that Muhammad's illiteracy was a later invention. | ||
== | ==Hadith regarding the Ummah as an unlettered people== | ||
According to a hadith, Muhammad said that the Islamic community was a ummiyya who could not write nor count. The hadith has been understood to mean that the start of the month should be determined by moon sighting and not by calculation.<ref>https://islamqa.info/en/4713</ref>: | |||
Muhammad said that | |||
{{Quote|{{Muslim|6|2376}}| | {{Quote|{{Muslim|6|2376}}| | ||
Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported Allah's Apostle as saying: | Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported Allah's Apostle as saying: | ||
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We are '''an unlettered people''' ( أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ, ''umma ummiyya'') who can neither write nor count. The month is thus, and thus. folding his thumb when he said it the third time. | We are '''an unlettered people''' ( أُمَّةٌ أُمِّيَّةٌ, ''umma ummiyya'') who can neither write nor count. The month is thus, and thus. folding his thumb when he said it the third time. | ||
}} | }} | ||
==Relevant Quotations== | ==Relevant Quotations== | ||