The Illiterate Prophet

 

 The Holy Qur’an refers to the illiteracy of the Messenger (Peace be upon) and confirms that it is mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel. Allah (SWT) says: “Those who follow the Messenger, the illiterate Prophet, Who they find mentioned in their own (scriptures) in the Torah and the Gospel.” (VII: 157)

 The illiteracy of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and how the revelation to him started are still mentioned in the Bible even nowadays.

 In the book of Isaiah (29:12), we read: “And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.” (King James Version)

 In “Good News Bible” we read: “If you give it to someone who can’t read and ask him to read it to you, he will answer that the does not know how.”

 This text agrees with what happened later to the Prophet (Peace be upon him). We read in a tradition narrated by ‘Ubaid Ibn ‘Umair and reported by Ibn Ishaq that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said: “Gabriel came to me with a sheet of silk wherein there was a book and said, ‘Read!’ I said, ‘I don’t know how.’” [20]

A long time has elapsed since the advent of Jesus (Peace be upon him); yet no revelation has been endowed upon an unlettered Prophet other than the illiterate Prophet, Muhammad (Peace be upon him), whose illiteracy they find mentioned in their scriptures even today.

 


[20] Fath Al-Bari, Book/ Tafsir, Section/ the interpretation of Surat Al-‘Alaq.