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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 | '''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. | ||
==Transfer of Information== | ==Transfer of Information== | ||
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And among them are those who abuse the Prophet and say, "He is '''an ear''' (أذن, ''udhun'')."}} | And among them are those who abuse the Prophet and say, "He is '''an ear''' (أذن, ''udhun'')."}} | ||
We also know that during Muhammad's time there was a man named Waraqa b. Naufal who studied the Bible and | We also know that during Muhammad's time there was a man named Waraqa b. Naufal who studied the Bible and wrote books in Arabic and he was close to Muhammad's first wife Khadija. Once Waraqa went blind, he likely continued teaching scripture verbally. | ||
{{Quote-text|{{Muslim|1|301}}| | {{Quote-text|{{Muslim|1|301}}| | ||
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.}} | 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.}} | ||
This, it is argued, would provide Muhammad a source for Judeo-Christian ideas that he could incorporate into the Quran and his teachings. | |||
==Was Muhammad illiterate?== | ==Was Muhammad illiterate?== | ||
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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 | 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. | ||
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: | ||
{{Quote-text|Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 7:157| | {{Quote-text|Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 7:157| | ||
(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'''.}} | (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'''.}} | ||
Ibn Kathir doesn't specify | It is worth noting, however, that Ibn Kathir doesn't specify what this "well known" description of Muhammad in the Torah is. | ||
====Chapter 62 Verse 2==== | ====Chapter 62 Verse 2==== | ||
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62:3 "And [to] others of them who have not yet joined them. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise."}} | 62:3 "And [to] others of them who have not yet joined them. And He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise."}} | ||
In 62:2, | In 62:2, according to the tafsir Al-Jalalayn, the word means illiterate and refers to the illiterate Arabs: | ||
{{Quote-text|Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 62:2| | {{Quote-text|Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 62:2| | ||
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.}} | 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.}} | ||
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This could be a prediction of what Aisha described: | This could be a prediction of what Aisha described: | ||
{{Quote-text|{{Bukhari|1|1|3}}|...suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "I do not know how to read."...}} | {{Quote-text|{{Bukhari|1|1|3}}|...suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "I do not know how to read."...}} | ||
Isaiah 29:12, however, is as follows: | |||
{{Quote-text|Isaiah 29:11-13| | {{Quote-text|Isaiah 29:11-13| | ||
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.”" | 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.”" | ||
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29:13 "The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught."}} | 29:13 "The Lord says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught."}} | ||
*اسم (''ism'') means "a noun". | *اسم (''ism'') means "a noun". | ||
So this word has a variety of meanings. | So this word has a variety of meanings. One 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 Muhammad was literate=== | ===Indications Muhammad was literate=== | ||
Muhammad was employed by his first wife Khadija to travel as a merchant. It's hard to do trade business without being able to write. Besides this implicit indication to his ability to write, we have explicit hadiths talking about Muhammad writing | Muhammad was employed by his first wife Khadija to travel as a merchant. It's hard to do trade business without being able to write. Besides this implicit indication to his ability to write, we have explicit hadiths talking about Muhammad writing. | ||
====Hadiths==== | ====Hadiths==== | ||
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It says وما اقرأ "and what (should I) read?". So in this story Muhammad can read, he just asks what should he read. | It says وما اقرأ "and what (should I) read?". So in this story Muhammad can read, he just asks what should he read. | ||
Ibn Ishaq died in 761. But in | Ibn Ishaq died in 761. But in the 9th century, Bukhari recorded the narration differently: | ||
{{Quote-text|{{Bukhari|1|1|3}}| | {{Quote-text|{{Bukhari|1|1|3}}| | ||
He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food likewise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "'''I do not know how to read.''' (مَا أَنَا بِقَارِئٍ)" The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists), created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) | He used to take with him the journey food for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadija to take his food likewise again till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet (ﷺ) replied, "'''I do not know how to read.''' (مَا أَنَا بِقَارِئٍ)" The Prophet (ﷺ) added, "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I replied, 'I do not know how to read.' Thereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, 'I do not know how to read (or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he caught me for the third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, 'Read in the name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists), created man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3) | ||