Mohamed a negramotnost: Difference between revisions

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.

Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 3:20 says:

{{Quote|Tafsir Al-Jalalayn on 3:20<ref>http://www.altafsir.com/Tafasir.asp?tMadhNo=0&tTafsirNo=74&tSoraNo=3&tAyahNo=20&tDisplay=yes&UserProfile=0&LanguageId=2</ref>|

So if they the disbelievers dispute with you O Muhammad (s) concerning religion say to them ‘I have surrendered my countenance to God that is to say I have submitted to Him I and whoever follows me’ wajh ‘countenance’ is chosen here because of its noble character for the other parts of the body will just as soon surrender once the countenance has; and say to those who have been given the Scripture the Jews and the Christians '''and to the uninstructed the Arab idolaters''' ‘Have you submitted?’ that is to say ‘Submit!’ And so if they have submitted they have been guided from error but if they turn their backs to Islam your duty is only to deliver the Message; and God sees His servants and so requites them for their deeds — this statement was revealed before the command to fight them had been revealed.

So here, according to the tafsir Al-Jalalayn, the word ''ummiy'' means gentile/pagan.

====Verse 3:75====

And among the People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust him with a great amount [of wealth], he will return it to you. And among them is he who, if you entrust him with a [single] silver coin, he will not return it to you unless you are constantly standing over him [demanding it]. That is because they say, "There is no blame upon us concerning '''the unlearned''' (الْأُمِّيِّينَ, ''al-ummeena'')." And they speak untruth about Allah while they know [it].

The tafsir Al-Jalalayn explains:

{{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.

So from this verse it seem to indicate that ummiy means gentile.

====Verse 62:2====

62:2 "It is He who has sent among '''the unlettered''' (الْأُمِّيِّينَ, ''al-ummeen'') a Messenger from themselves reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom - although they were before in clear error -"

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, according to the tafsir Al-Jalalayn, the word means illiterate and refers to the illiterate Arabs:

{{Quote|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.}}

Ibn Kathir says "other" in 62:3 means Persians:

{{Quote|Tafsir Ibn Kathir on 62:3 <ref>http://www.qtafsir.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1347&Itemid=118</ref>|

(And others among them) by mentioning Persia.  

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>|

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>|

* 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===

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 stuff.

====Hadiths====

كتب (''kataba'') means "he wrote":

Narrated Anas bin Malik:

'''Once the Prophet (ﷺ) wrote (كَتَبَ) a letter or had an idea of writing a letter'''. The Prophet (ﷺ) was told that they (rulers) would not read letters unless they were sealed. So the Prophet (ﷺ) got a silver ring made with "Muhammad Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)" engraved on it. As if I were just observing its white glitter in the hand of the Prophet.

Narrated Abdullah ibn Abbas:

'''The Prophet (ﷺ) wrote (كَتَبَ) a letter to Heraclius''': "From Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah, to Hiraql (Heraclius), Chief of the Byzantines. Peace be to those who follow the guidance." Ibn Yahya reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas that AbuSufyan said to him: We then came to see Hiraql (Heraclius) who seated us before him. He then called for the letter from the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ). Its contents were: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful, from Muhammad the Messenger of Allah, to Hiraql, chief of Byzantines. Peace be to those who follow the guidance. To proceed."

 

Sa'id said: Umar ibn al-Khattab said: Blood-money is meant for the clan of the slain, and she will not inherit from the blood-money of her husband. Ad-Dahhak ibn Sufyan said: '''The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wrote (كَتَبَ) to me''' that I should give a share to the wife of Ashyam ad-Dubabi from the blood-money of her husband. So Umar withdrew his opinion.

 

Ahmad ibn Salih said: AbdurRazzaq transmitted this tradition to us from Ma'mar, from az-Zuhri on the authority of Sa'id. In this version he said: The Prophet (ﷺ) made him governor over the bedouins.

 

 

We said: You appear to be a bedouin. He said: Yes. We said: Give us this piece of skin in your hand. He then gave it to us and we read it. It contained the text: "From Muhammad, Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), to Banu Zuhayr ibn Uqaysh. If you bear witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, offer prayer, pay zakat, pay the fifth from the booty, and the portion of the Prophet (ﷺ) and his special portion (safi), you will be under by the protection of Allah and His Apostle."

 

'''We then asked: Who wrote (كَتَبَ) this document for you? He replied: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ).'''

وكتب (''wa-kataba'') means "and he wrote":

 

We accompanied the Prophet (ﷺ) in the Ghazwa of Tabuk and the king of 'Aila presented a white mule and a cloak as a gift to the Prophet. '''And the Prophet (ﷺ) wrote (وَكَتَبَ) to him''' a peace treaty allowing him to keep authority over his country.

فكتب (''fa-kataba'') means "then he wrote":

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "The Jews should either pay the blood money of your (deceased) companion or be ready for war." '''After that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) wrote (فَكَتَبَ) a letter to the Jews''' in that respect, and they wrote that they had not killed him.

Narrated Al-Bara:

When the Prophet (ﷺ) intended to perform `Umra in the month of Dhul-Qada, the people of Mecca did not let him enter Mecca till he settled the matter with them by promising to stay in it for three days only. When the document of treaty was written, the following was mentioned: 'These are the terms on which Muhammad, Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) agreed (to make peace).' They said, "We will not agree to this, for if we believed that you are Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) we would not prevent you, but you are Muhammad bin `Abdullah." The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "I am Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and also Muhammad bin `Abdullah." Then he said to `Ali, "Rub off (the words) 'Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)' ", but `Ali said, "No, by Allah, I will never rub off your name." So, '''Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) took the document and wrote (فَكَتَبَ)''', 'This is what Muhammad bin `Abdullah has agreed upon: No arms will be brought into Mecca except in their cases, and nobody from the people of Mecca will be allowed to go with him (i.e. the Prophet (ﷺ) ) even if he wished to follow him and he (the Prophet (ﷺ) ) will not prevent any of his companions from staying in Mecca if the latter wants to stay.'

====The first revelation====

The first sura was the sura 96, which  begins as follows:

'''Read''' (اقرا, ''iqra'') in the name of your Lord who created -

Recite, and your Lord is the most Generous -

Who taught '''by the pen''' (بالقلم, ''bil-qalam'') -

Taught man that which he knew not.

* The word ''iqra'' is sometimes translated as "recite", but "recitation" in Arabic is تِلاَوَة (''tilawa'') and the Quran uses form of that word for "recitation" <ref>http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=tlw</ref>.

There are two versions of the story of the first revelation. In the Sirat Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq it goes as follows:

{{Quote|Sirat Rasul Allah by Ibn Ishaq <ref>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad%27s_first_revelation</ref>|

When it was the night on which God honored him with his mission and showed mercy on His servants thereby, Gabriel brought him the command of God. "He came to me," said the apostle of God, "while I was asleep, with a coverlet of brocade whereon was some writing, and said, ‘Read!’ I said, '''‘What shall I read?’''' (وما اقرأ <ref>https://ar.wikisource.org/wiki/%D8%B3%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%A9_%D8%A7%D8%A8%D9%86_%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%82/%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D8%AC%D9%84%D8%AF_%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84</ref>) He pressed me with it so tightly that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it again so that I thought it was death; then he let me go and said ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What shall I read?’ He pressed me with it the third time so that I thought it was death and said ‘Read!’ I said, ‘What then shall I read?’—and this I said only to deliver myself from him, lest he should do the same to me again. He said:

 

Ibn Ishaq died in 761. But in 810 was born Bukhari, who wrote a little different story in his Sahih Bukhari collection:

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)

* If the ''iqra'' in 96:1 meant "recite" as some translators translated it, then here Muhammad says "I don't know how to recite".

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.

==Muhammad, the Islamic role model==

Muslims believe the Muhammad is their role model and at the same time they believe that he didn't learn how to read.

Muhammad said the the ummah (the Islamic community) is illiterate and it's not important to use astronomical calculations to determine beginning of a month and it should be rather determined primitively by sight <ref>https://islamqa.info/en/4713</ref>:

Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) reported Allah's Apostle as saying:

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.

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).