Did the Prophet remain illerate all his life?

lostlilly07

striving 4 Firadous
[COLOR="Purple"

:salam2:

]I finally saw the message today....I know i am extremely late. but anyone there was scene in there after the battle of Badr....(I think which ever battle came first) The prophet salaallahu alahi wa salaam told his companions to set all the captives free if they teach ten companions to read. So my question is, did the Prophet learned to read or write before he died? [/COLOR]
 

Southrn_Muslimah

bnqɯnɥ 'ɥɐq
:salam2:

If you dont mind, I want to expand to your question lol. We know that the Prophet (SAW) was a merchant for Khadija (May Allah be pleased with her), so was there a possibility that he knew how to do numbers in order to record all transactions? So does the term illiterate apply to that?

:wasalam:
 

Mrmuslim

Smile you are @ TTI
Staff member
salaam alikom

The prophet peace be upon him thought us that if we mention his name is to say peace be up on him, and as a respect we should write it in full instead of saying SAW.


# 2 No the prophet peace be up on him didnt know how to read or write.

wa salaam alikom
 

q8penpals

Junior Member
Salam

I think we all know that when the revelations came to Prophet Mohammad he was illiterate. But that does beg the question, why didn't he himself ever try to learn to read, especially after getting the revelations, to make sure that the Qu'ran was written down correctly?

Lana
 

Almeftah

Junior Member
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

Ummi is arabic for illiterate (for those who can't read or write), The Prohpet (pbuh) never knew how to read or write..

At that time even before the revelations came, only poets were known to be able to read and write, so he didnt learn to read and write so that Kufaar (disbelievers) wouldnt accuse him of making up the holy quran.
 

nblueblaze

A Brother
[COLOR="Purple"

:salam2:

]I finally saw the message today....I know i am extremely late. but anyone there was scene in there after the battle of Badr....(I think which ever battle came first) The prophet salaallahu alahi wa salaam told his companions to set all the captives free if they teach ten companions to read. So my question is, did the Prophet learned to read or write before he died? [/COLOR]

Good question....

Fact:: Not only Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) but all the prophet(pbut) were illiterate.

Now the Question comes: why did Allah chose such persons to guide us??

Answer:: So that later the people could not say about any prophet-"he was a literate (read-learned man); he concocted all things, the Quran contains his words not Allah's"
To prevent such Islamic-blasphemy Allah chose His Prophets carefully (read-as he pleased). Now being an Illiterate can Muhammad(pbud) tell the scientific explanation regarding how a fetus is formed? Or the benefits (read-properties) of metals like Iron?
Of course, No! These are Allah's words! and is guaranteed against any mistake or incurring any change by Allah Himself. So from this point of view he was indeed an illeterate.

Now the next question::" Why do you mean by- from this point of view"??

Answer: The Quran is a book of knowledge. A person who enabled us getting this book and who has remembered every single ayat/durood/surah can really be termed as an Illiterate????? No! Absolutely Not! From Nobel Quran he did learn scientific explanation regarding how a fetus is formed and the benefits (read-properties) of metals like Iron etc. He died as a learned man. A man who has given us a huge amount of fatwas compiled as the Hadith...He undertook 'the Journey' to Heaven.....Nobody after him can aquire this amount of knowledge. So from this point of view prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was not an Illiterate man.

I think I have answered your query.
 

nblueblaze

A Brother
السلام عليكم ورحمة الله

Ummi is arabic for illiterate (for those who can't read or write), The Prohpet (pbuh) never knew how to read or write..

At that time even before the revelations came, only poets were known to be able to read and write, so he didnt learn to read and write so that Kufaar (disbelievers) wouldnt accuse him of making up the holy quran.

Absolutely Correct....
 

ed209

Junior Member
i try to answer yr question with my opinion. At the Prophet(s.a.w.)'s era, arabian letters were not mature. There were no points or slashes to demonstrate vowels in arabic just as those in today's Qur'aan. So i guess at that time to learn how to read and write arabic was very difficult. The Prophet (s.a.w.)'s task was to introduce the religion of Allah and awake ppl. He could not waste any time on unrelated things. I dont mean to learn how to read and write is not important, i say the Prophet (s.a.w.) was the messenger of Allah insdead of a scholar or a poetry.
 
Salam

I think we all know that when the revelations came to Prophet Mohammad he was illiterate. But that does beg the question, why didn't he himself ever try to learn to read, especially after getting the revelations, to make sure that the Qu'ran was written down correctly?

Lana

Salaam,

I believe at that time education was expensive and prestigious and only a few prominent members of the society could afford it.

Allahu Alam (Allah Knows Best)
 

hussain.mahammed

a lonely traveller
As salamu alaikum wa rahmatullahi wabrakatuhu sister

As already you have got the answer, I just want to add the following

"there was no need for him to read or write because he was directly being taught by Allah Subhanahu wa Taala through the Angel Jibreel alaihi salam".

wa/salam
 

Mrmuslim

Smile you are @ TTI
Staff member
Salam

I think we all know that when the revelations came to Prophet Mohammad he was illiterate. But that does beg the question, why didn't he himself ever try to learn to read, especially after getting the revelations, to make sure that the Qu'ran was written down correctly?

Lana


salaam alikom

First of we shouldnt ask why he didnt ! its sound like we assuming he did something wrong,

# 2 I think we as Muslims need to be more carefull when we metion the prophet peace be up on him and show more respect . some brother and sisters write the name of the prophet peace be up on him as they are talking about a friend ...and instead of writting S W A we need to show respect to write prophet peace be up on him after his name ( Peace be up on him or sallah Allah Alaihi wa Salaam) this the way we should address the prophet peace be up on him


The Quran was written correctly, we dont need to have doubt about this...

Almighty Allah chose Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) even though he had grown up as an orphan and was totally illiterate. All good qualities and virtues reached ultimate perfection and were firmly established in him, which no one else can attain except the prophets whom Allah has protected and guided. This combination of perfect qualities is one of the greatest proofs of the truth of his Prophethood (peace and blessings be upon him). He acquired his knowledge direct from Allah. He was not taught by any human being, but he was the "City of Knowledge".


Almighty Allah says: (And thou (O Muhammad) wast not a reader of any scripture before it, nor didst thou write it with thy right hand, for then might those have doubted, who follow falsehood.) (Al-`Ankabut 29: 48) He also says: (Those who follow the messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, whom they will find described in the Torah and the Gospel (which are) with them …) (Al-A`raf 7: 157)



The first verse indicates that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was an illiterate, knowing neither how to read or write, before the Glorious Qur’an started to be revealed to him. The second verse indicates that the People of the Book, i.e., the Christians and Jews, knew of the Prophet’s illiteracy in their Divine Books and this is a well-known matter. The wisdom in his illiteracy as shown in the verses is to avoid the disbelievers’ accusing him of having copied or transformed the Qur’an from another human being or excerpted it from the previous books.



However, regarding the period after the revelation of the Qur’an to the Prophet, Muslim scholars held different viewpoints on the issue of the Prophet’s illiteracy. Some scholars are of the opinion that he was no more an illiterate. They based their ruling on the following three evidences:


1. It is reported in Sahih al-Bukhari that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) changed in the document of al-Hudaibiyah Truce the phrase “Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” into “Muhammad ibn `Abdullah”.


2. He read a paper to `Uyaynah ibn Hisn and conveyed its meaning.


3. He stated that one of the signs of the Anti-Christ (al-Maseeh ad-Dajjal) is that it is written between his eyes the word “a disbeliever”.


The majority of Muslim scholars are of the opinion that he remained illiterate so that no one would be able to refute his mission or that the Qur’an was revealed to him on separate occasions until the end of his lifetime. They refuted the first evidence saying that the Prophet’s mere writing some words does not erase his illiteracy because of the fact that many illiterates nowadays can write their names nevertheless they are still illiterates.


They refuted the second evidence saying that it is unauthentic.


As for the third evidence, they said that the Prophet’s knowing of some letters does not erase his description as being an illiterate.


Accordingly, the Prophet’s illiteracy is a description that has its cogent wisdom.


Finally, we would like to state that there are many textual proofs indicating that even if the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was an illiterate, the Muslim Ummah are recommended to learn how to read and write and to teach it to others, as learning by starting with reading is one of the strongest keys to gaining knowledge. It is reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) ransomed the captives of the great Battle of Badr by having them teach some children of the Ansar (Helpers) reading and writing.

Dr. Rif`at Fawzi, professor of Shari`ah at Cairo University, adds:

Yes, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was an illiterate. This clearly indicates the Divine nature of the Glorious Qur’an that was revealed on Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) who had grown up as an orphan and was illiterate, knowing neither how to read nor write. This Divine Book meets with the previous Divine Books in creeds and stories of Prophets. Almighty Allah challenged all people to try to create a chapter like it, but they could not, and will never be able to do so until the Day of Judgment.

The above is from islamonline.

In addition, Jebril Alhi Salaam used to revised the Quran with the prophet peace be up on him more than once and the writer of the Quran use to recite on the prophet peace be up on him what they wrote.

For Him being Illiterate and telling people about the scientific issues that scientists discovering now days, while it was mentioned in the Quran more 1400 year a go is a Miracle.

How can a illiterate person can mention the scientific facts and talk about space and plants and about darkness of the sea while he was illiterate.

This by it self Allah's miracle for his prophet peace be up on him.


Wa salaam alikom
 
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