29:48"And you did not recite (tatlu) before it any book (kitab), nor did you transcribe one with your right hand, for then could those who say untrue things have doubted"
Kitab from the root K-T-B means putting things together as in grouping the herd together or closing the lips or stitching, as well as putting letters or ideas together hence the common use in the sense of a book in which letters, ideas and knowledge are gathered. This binding of things together can be in the physical sense, as in the letters and words of a sentence, or the pages of a book. That is why even a single word, verse or page of the Quran is termed kitab, even prior to the completion of the revelation and binding together into a book. The Prophet is also reported as having said before his death
"I have left amongst you Muslims that which, if you stick to it, you will not be misguided-the book of Allah".
Quran is a word similarily applicable to a portion as to the whole 43:2-4. The Arabic word mushaf, known since pre-islamic times as seen from a poem of Imru al Qays, was similarily used for the Quran prior to its completion
"This son of mine reads the mushaf in the daytime".
Mushaf means assembled writings between 2 covers. Kitab is also used in the metaphorical sense, as in the binding of a thing or knowledge within one's self 6:12,58:22. For instance it is said about Jesus
19:30,3:48"And He will teach him the kitab and the hukm and the Tawrat and the Injeel".
Similarily to him, other prophets have been granted
3:81,6:89"al kitab and al hukma and al nubuwwa".
Kitab here is in the singular, and common to these prophets. Hukm is for the ability to judge, rule and make decisions, nubuwwa is the gift of prophecy. The implication of the statement being that all these persons had ability to arrive at wise judgements due to the special knowledge collected into them as if they were books of flesh upon whom God is writing. They had also the ability to prophesy, pointing to the divine nature of their knowledge and actions.
Muhammad was an illiterate man like the vast majority of his people. Illiteracy was so common in those days that we have traditions even listing the very few ones that could actually read and write. According to Al-Baladhuri, there werent more than 17 such people among the Quraysh and 11 from the Khazraj and Aws tribes. Despite this high level of illitracy, hundreds carried on most successful and flourishing businesses. It is known that Khadija had given the Prophet a literate slave named Maisara to accompany him on his trips. The Prophet's function in Khadija's business was to ensure the trustworthy transport of her goods, and finalization of her deals.
Muhammad thus, like the near totality of his people, did not read nor transcribe any type of writing before the Revelation. The Quran says, that situation must remain so during the Revelation in order to serve as potential evidence against
29:48"those who say untrue things".In 25:4-5, the doubters accuse the prophet of having iktataba what his secret human teachers taught him so that it may be "read out to him morning and evening". Iktitab means both to write and to cause to be written ie by someone else. The last part of the verse shows that it is "causing to be written" that is meant otherwise the prophet would not need the revelation to be read out to him by other people day and night.
The prophet's illiteracy is something his opponents never objected to, and the Quran as well as hadith literature contain all types of objections, calumnies and accusations thrown at him, yet nothing about this particular matter. By reiterating the well known fact that he was an illiterate, the Quran cancels the objection of literal plagiarism by copying and transcribing with his hands. However the Quran does not stop there. In the context of answering the objection that the prophet Muhammad plagiarized oral traditions from human sources, it says he was unschooled in the subjects related by the Quran
7:157"Those who follow the apostle, the ummi (uneducated/unschooled) Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own scriptures".In 2:78 the Jews are called ummiyun so it neither refers to gentiles nor illiterate people. The word is derived from the root Hamza-M-M and it means mother or sources/origin if said as UMM and destination if said as AMM. Ummi means in this context someone who is close to the source or origin and that conceptually means someone lacking education that moves him away. In a more metaphorical sense it is understood as painting the picture of one as ignorant and uneducated as the one coming out of the umm/mother. In the prophet's case this uneducation is in terms of divine scriptures as so often stated in the Quran
3:44,11:49,28:44,12:3,102"This is of the announcements relating to the unseen (which) We reveal to you, and you were not with them..".Some have said ummiyun refers to the Meccans, yet in 3:20 (a known Medinan sura) the prophet is told to address the people of the book and the ummiyun, those who are uneducated in a religious scripture, which includes the Arabs from Mecca and outside of it.
Another way in which the definition of "mother" applies to Ummi is that it relates to the mother's love of her child so she does not entrust anyone other than herself to educate him. The same is applied to Muhammad whom Allah loved so much He took great care in teaching him. The Quran draws a particularily affectionate description of the manner in which Gabriel approached, bent over from on high to give full attention and inspired the revelation to the prophet
53:5-10"The Lord of Mighty Power has taught him, The Lord of Strength; so he attained completion, And he is in the highest part of the horizon, Then he drew near, then he bowed. So he was the measure of two bows or closer still, And He revealed to His servant what He revealed".This particular relationship between God and His prophet is subtely reflected through the muqataat, the distinct enounciation of the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of certain suras. Their recitation, and more particularily by the prophet, convey the idea that the transmitter of this message, the "ummi" prophet who is as unlettred and unschooled as one just coming out of his umm/mother, is now in the process of being taught by God Himself, the One claiming to be the source of the communication, teaching His messenger the basic alphabet. There is a reason why the Quran is said to have been "taught" to its audience 55:2.
The prophet dies very shortly after the revelation of the last verse 5:3 therefore it is logical to say that he did not read nor write a book all his life, for the Quranic argument as stated in 29:48 to be completed. It is reported that on his deathbed, he asked for a paper to have something written on it. This doesnt necessarily entail writing himself, but could as well mean he intended to have someone writing his will in his presence. That is what in fact people accused him of in regards to the Quran, as shown earlier. They never accused him of writing himself the Quran, but that he had others writing for him. It is in this light that the various ahadith describing the prophet as having something written have been understood. For example we read
"That the Messenger of Allah said: "Bring me a shoulder blade or tablet." Then he wrote: Not equal are those of believers who sit".Another version of the same hadith says
"bring me a shoulder blade of a camel, or a tablet, and write: Not equal are those of the believers who sit (at home)".Something else to keep in mind is that illiterate people are often able to read and write very basic words and sentences whose shapes they recognize. That doesnt make them literate. One example is that of a narration that begins by reiterating the fact that "Allah's Messenger used not to write" but he nevertheless was able to recognize the expression "Apostle of Allah" on a paper handed to him by Ali ibn Abi Talib.
One may come back and argue that the prophet Muhammad must have been literate because he was commanded to
96:1"Read in the name of your Lord".But how could the prophet be told to read from a paper in front of him the very words that are being revealed to him?
Iqraa or Itlu do not always mean that one is reading something written on a paper, both are commonly used in the sense of reading behind someone or reading from the mind. This is particularly made clear in 75:16-18. The prophet is told by his Instructor (Allah) not to be hasty with the Quran while it is transmitted to him, because
"on Us (devolves) the collecting of it and the reading of it",ie it is Allah who sets the standard as to how it should be read. So when the Instructor reads it, the follower should follow the words
"Therefore when We have read it, follow its reading".The verse does not say that first it is read out to the prophet, then he must write it and then read it. It commands him to read as it is read to him
87:6"We shall make you recite (sanuqriuka) so you shall not forget".Allah was literaly puting the holy words into the prophet's mouth
19:97"We have only made it easy in your tongue that you may give good news thereby to those who guard (against evil) and warn thereby a vehemently contentious people"and teaching him how to read them out. As the prophecy of Deut18 says
"I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him".
The ahadith describe the prophet's first encounter with the agent of revelation. The experience was so overwhelming that the prophet at first would not let the messenger transmit the revelation, interrupting him. He did not know the purpose of the experience
"...till suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the cave of Hira. The angel came to him in it and asked him to read. The Prophet replied, "I do not know how to read (a better translation is "what shall i read?")" "The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and again asked me to read, and I replied, "I do not know how to read/what shall i read?" whereupon he caught me again and pressed me a second time till I could not bear it anymore. He then released me and asked me again 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). Has created man from a clot. Read and Your Lord is Most Generous...up to..... ..that which he knew not." (96.15)"
Man is apt to forget, and the Prophet was a human being and he too was apt to forget and since the Quran was also a great asset which was being entrusted to him, he would repeat each and every word of the revelation fearing that any of it might slip away from his memory. This verse, telling him he will be made to recite in manner so as to not forget, came as a reassurance, stressing that God has taken upon Himself its impression on his memory. This was not by his own power and leave, being a mortal like anyone else and it is a reminder of this reality that the Quran continues
87:7"Except what Allah pleases, surely He knows the manifest, and what is hidden".The context of the verse is about intricate, detailed, purposeful divine planing for all things and how nothing escapes God's grasp and knowledge. The prophet's rare occasions of very limited forgetfulness (and his followers and recorders' reminding him) were fully in accordance with that master plan, meant among other things at humbling him as well as to the believers' eyes around him, of his own faillibility as a human being as well of God's being in control of the process of memorization and compilation of the Quran, allowing only what He wills to be temporarily, not completely, forgotten. As a principle, the Quran reminds in many instances of that concept, how this revelation and its very preservation is a mercy from Allah that could be taken away from Muhammad or erase parts of it from the prophet's own memory without him noticing it as said above, therefore man should remain grateful for it and never feel complacent
17:86-7"And if We please, We should certainly take away that which We have revealed to you, then you would not find for it any protector against Us. But on account of mercy from your Lord-- surely His grace to you is abundant".There is one recorded incident where God caused a permanent blackout among the Muslim community's best reciters
"We used to recite a surah which resembled in length and severity to (Surah) Bara'at. I have, however, forgotten it with the exception of this which I remember out of it: "If there were two valleys full of riches, for the son of Adam, he would long for a third valley, and nothing would fill the stomach of the son of Adam but dust." And we used so recite a surah which resembled one of the surahs of Musabbihat, and I have forgotten it, but remember (this much) out of it: 'Oh people who believe, why do you say that which you do not practise.' (lxi 2.) and, 'That is recorded in your necks as a witness (against you) and you would be asked about it on the Day of Resurrection" (xvii. 13)".What is interesting here is that this report is narrated by up to 15 of the most renowned companions, over a wide geographical distribution, from Basra to Kufah, Mecca to Medina. Nothing is known from the chapter in question except for the vague snippet each narrator remembers. God in His wisdom, has left this trace in the memory of men, and took the rest so as to provide proof of His control over the transmission process of the divine revelation. He may take away what He peases and establish what He wants. With the Jews, this process took the form of punishment. Their books describe God, in answer to their complacency towards divine guidance, the rejection, persecution and killing of the prophets sent in their midst, as interrupting an ongoing guiding revelation Ezek3:26,24:27,33:21-22.
Further reading answering Sam Shamoun "Muhammad’s Illiteracy Proves that Allah is the Not-So-Powerful One"
