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wa-mā kunta tatlū min qablihī min kitābin wa-lā takhuṭṭuhū bi-yamīnika ʾidhan la-rtāba l-mubṭilūna
You did not use to recite any scripture before it, nor did you write it with your right hand, for then the impugners would have been skeptical.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah Al-‘Ankabut - Verse 48
48. “And you did not recite before it any book, nor did you transcribe one with your right hand, indeed, would the talkers of vanities have doubted.”
The descent of the Holy Qur’an upon the illiterate Prophet (S), who could neither read nor write, is one of the Divine ways of completing the argument to mankind. We must not be proud and boast of our ability of reading and writing, sometimes it happens that, by the Will of Allah, an illiterate person changes the culture of human beings. In this holy verse, one of the clear signs of veracity of the invitation of the Prophet of Islam (S) has been pointed out which is an emphasis on the content of the previous verse. It says:
How is it possible to believe that an illiterate person, who has not been taught by a human teacher and has not gone to any school, brings a Book by himself and invites all mankind to challenge it but everybody is impotent to bring the like of it? Is this not a proof to the fact that his power gets help from the infinite power of Allah and his Book is a heavenly revelation which has been inspired to him from the side of Allah? It is necessary to note this point that if a person asks how can we know that the holy Prophet of Islam never went to school and learned to write? In answer we say that he used to live in an environment where the literate and educated persons were very scanty, and it is also said that there were only seventeen persons in Mecca who could read and write.
In such a place it is impossible for an individual to be able to conceal his being taught if he has gone to any school. If so, he will be known everywhere and his teacher and his lesson will be introduced. Thus, how can such a person claim that he is a true prophet while he tells a lie so manifest? In particular that these verses were sent down in Mecca where the Prophet (S) lived and grew up, and before the obstinate enemies from whose view the smallest point of weakness was not hidden.
By the way, in the commentary of Surah Al-’A‘raf, no. 7, verse 157 it was said that there have been mentioned three meanings for the Arabic word /’ummi/ among which the meaning: ‘unschooled’ is the most clear.30
Footnotes