Muhammad and illiteracy: Difference between revisions

no edit summary
[checked revision][checked revision]
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 61: Line 61:
- of or relating to mother}}
- of or relating to mother}}


====The word ''ummiy'' in the Quran====
===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".
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".
====Chapter 2 Verse 78====
====Chapter 2 Verse 78====
Line 142: Line 142:
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.
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===
===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 stuff.
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.


recentchangescleanup, Reviewers, Administrators
148

edits