Was Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ILLiterate?

Was Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) illiterate? By Mohammed Hijab
Credit: Sapience Institute

[jamsheadaziz]

Typical salafi/wahabi attacks on the Holy Prophet (saw). It is inconceivable that the last and the greatest of the Prophet's was illiterate.

[Sady]

NO HE TAUGHT ISLAM

WHICH TEACHES EVERY SUBJECT AND HAS ALL THE RELEVANT AND NECESSARY INTELLIGENCE REQUIRED TO BE YOUR BEST IN LIFE

[taqiuk]

If you think that illiterate means those who don’t know God’s revelations, then Prophet Muhammad, pbuh was illiterate before God gave him the knowledge of the Book – Al Kitab, and we know it from the Quran.

But if you mean illiterate means who don’t know reading and writing, then definitely the Prophet was literate.

Let us take a deeper look into the verse below:

“He it is Who has sent unto the Al-Ummiyeena-الْأُمِّيِّينَ (generally translated as unlettered people) an apostle from among themselves, to convey unto them His messages, and to cause them to grow in purity, and to impart unto them the divine writ as well as wisdom - whereas before that they were true, most obviously, lost in error” ( Al Quran # 62:2 – Translation - Asad)

If unlettered is the correct meaning of the word Ummi - meaning the person does not know reading and writing, one might ask, did Allah send the Prophet only to the people who do not know reading and writing, as said in the above-mentioned verse? That doesn’t make any sense.

Hence we should consider the other meanings of the word Ummi that are befitting, as evident from other translations of verse 62:2, below:

“He it is Who raised among the inhabitants of Mecca (Ummi) a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His communications …….. “(Same verse translated by Shakir)

“It is He who raised a messenger from among the Gentiles (Ummi); reciting His revelations to them, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and Wisdom…..” (Translation- Safi Kaskas)

“It is He who raised a messenger, among the people who had no Scripture (Ummi), to recite His revelations to them…..” (Translation- Abdel Haleem)- I consider this translation acceptable.

“He it is Who raised amongst Al-Ummiyyun (The translator chose to leave the word as it is) a Messenger from among themselves……” (Dr. Kamal Omar)

Let us ponder over some historical evidence, as below:

Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, was hired by Khadija, a wealthy Quraish lady as her business manager. So, one could fairly assume that she must have hired the most qualified, competent person – literate up to the standard - knows reading writing, and contemporary accounting too, so that he could run her business correctly, and smoothly, which in fact, the Prophet did.

He developed his business acumen from his frequent business trips abroad with his beloved uncle Abu Talib - mostly to Syria. Abu Talib was educated, and a great poet, too. Dewan – E- Abu Talib published in Saudi Arabia is a collection of thousands of his poetry.

Abu Talib was a rich community leader. So it is quite obvious that he must have given his children a proper education, and his most beloved nephew, the Prophet, too, who was raised in his household. Educating children makes the community leader more dignified in society. Ali bin Abu Talib was educated and famous for his outstanding scholarship. To get a taste of Hazrat Ali’s eloquence please read the book – Nahjul Balagha- ‘The Pinnacle of Eloquence’ – which is a collection of his speeches and letters.
Hence the meaning of ‘Ummi’ taken as ‘unlettered’ is not a correct choice; the correct translation would be the one who is not enlightened with any Scriptural knowledge, which is further confirmed in Verse 2:78, below:

“And there are among them UMMIYUNA (أُمِّيُّونَ) who have no real knowledge of the divine writ, [following] only wishful beliefs and depending on nothing but conjecture.” ( Al Quran # 2:78)

Please read the article in the link below:


A hadith that also proves that Rasulullah could write and read is the hadith of the pen and paper which says that the Prophet asked for pen and paper to write something
Sahih bukhari 114
Ch: The writing of knowledge

[abbasawan]

ummi has a lot of meanings Allah swt would never send the best of creation holy prophet Muhammad pbuh seal of prophethood has an illiterate imagine if I said to hijab that ur father is illiterate illiterate think about it these salafis are being so disrespectful so what if the prophet asked other people to write doesn't mean he can't write astagfurrallah may Allah swt guide them to the right path

[hildaben]

If Mohammed was illiterate and was sent from amongst the illiterate ones a prophet then how come the illiterates were those who wrote down what the prophet said.

[Henok-qnnc]

Bro repurposed the meaning to fit his ideaology 🤣🤣🤣

[calebrobinson]

no he wasn't. There are hadith in which he asks to be given pen and paper to be able to write something down.

The word used for illiterate also means pagan, or of no religious affiliation which is most likely what it meant at the time considering eveyrbody in arabia was a pagan during those times and he had no affiliation with Christians or Jews until later.

[iq]

اميين - اي من ام القرى - جمع و ليس من الجهل
From Um al Quraa
not from the Illiterates!!
From the Mother of all the cities
وانك لعلى خلق عظيم
الذي لا يقرا و لا يكتب ناقص الصفه و ليس كامكلا
The Prophet's attributes were all great as the verse described him in the chapter "The Pen"
سورة الـقـلـم
بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ
In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful.
﴿١﴾ ن ۚ وَالْقَلَمِ وَمَا يَسْطُرُونَ
1. Nuun. By the pen, and by what they write.
﴿٢﴾ مَا أَنْتَ بِنِعْمَةِ رَبِّكَ بِمَجْنُونٍ
2. By the grace of your Lord, you are not insane.
﴿٣﴾ وَإِنَّ لَكَ لَأَجْرًا غَيْرَ مَمْنُونٍ
3. In fact, you will have an unending reward.
﴿٤﴾ وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَىٰ خُلُقٍ عَظِيمٍ
4. And you are of a great moral character.

youtu.be/MH-nXA9ZFIw

[jankopandza]

Muhammad was a successful merchant. The “Muslim scholars” who fabricated the illiteracy lie forgot that there were no numbers during the Prophet’s time; the letters of the alphabet were used as numbers; similar to roman numerals. As a merchant dealing with numbers every day, the Prophet had to know the alphabet, from one to one-thousand.


Even the contemporary adversaries to the prophet acknowledged that he could read and write. This is stated in the following verse.

[25:5] They also said, “Tales from the past that he wrote down; they were dictated to him day and night.”

(٥) وَقَالُوا أَسَاطِيرُ الْأَوَّلِينَ اكْتَتَبَهَا فَهِيَ تُمْلَىٰ عَلَيْهِ بُكْرَةً وَأَصِيلًا

[tafheemyeasir]

There are no illiterate people. To live in a society, you have to know how to read some things and know numbers.
Ummi means something closer to uneducated