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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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==