The Learned Prophet

The last Prophet Muhammed Musthafa (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
was raised among the Unlettered Arabs. So the Prophet got the title 'the
unlettered Prophet'. There is a belief among the Muslims that the Prophet was a
mere illiterate who could not read or write. This wrong notion has crept into the
Muslim minds because of the title, 'the Ummi prophet' which the none Muslims had
misinterpreted. The literal meaning of the word Ummi is illiterate. It is true
that he had not gone to a school or studied under an earthly tutor. He got
everything from Heaven.

The none Muslim writers have taken advantage of this title of the Prophet to
malign him and wrote many false stories about him. This had implanted the harmful
idea that the prophet could not read or write and that he was a mere illiterate,
in the Muslim minds long since. But Prophet Muhammad (saw) could read and write,
even though he did not study under a tutor in the boyhood and learn the art of
reading and writing. He did not read from a book or write one.

The Muslims have not taken this false allegation that he was illiterate, seriously
and thus they had lowered the status of the Prophet (saw) to an illiterate. The
result is that most of them advocated illiteracy and preferred to be illiterate.
How can anyone dare to excel the 'Illiterate Prophet'? When we ponder over the
Ayaths of the Holy Qur'an we see that the first man after the revelation of the
Qur'an, who acted upon the divine order to read would be the Prophet himself.

Let us see the first revealed verses of the Holy Qur'an. "Read in the name of thy
Lord who created, who created man from a clinging sperm. Read, thy Lord is the
noblest who taught through the pen, taught man what he did not know ". (96:1,5).

This itself is enough for a man with common-sense to know that the Prophet should
know how to read and write. But, for the Prophet it was not necessary to practise
the art of reading and writing, just as the ordinary people do, because the
Prophet was the possessor of qualities of the highest order. He was taught by the
mighty one Jibreel (a.s) the Arch angel.

There are people among us with extraordinary qualities. They look into a book for
a few minutes and reproduce it without seeing it again! Then, why should the
Prophet not possess such high qualities when the Qur'anic verses explain,
"Certainly you are on the highest of qualities" (68:4). How can it be otherwise
when the Qur'an says that he was the best example for the humankind. (33:21).

Let us examine the other verses of the Qur'an which throw light on the subject.
"You were not wont to read from a book before it, nor did you write with your
right hand" (29:48) It says before the revelation, indicating that afterwards he
could read and write even though he had not studied in his boyhood. He had no need
to write just as a king, who would not write for himself, for, his scribes wrote
for him as he may be preoccupied with other important matters. A king would only
dictate.

He ordered others to read and write and the Qur'an says; "Do you order others to
do good things while you refrain from it, and you read the book, don't you
think?"(2:44). These Ayaths show us that the Prophet must have learnt to read and
write before he ordered others to do it. If we still believe that the Prophet was
illiterate, it would prove that we have no common-sense. In fact we do not have
common-sense. We believe that in the date system taught by the Prophet, the date
can be different at different places in the world while the day remained the same
everywhere! The following example proves it.
For example: AD AH
• At Makkah = Tuesday = 23-01-1996 = 03-09-1416
• At Calicut = Tuesday = 23-01-1996 = 02-09-1416
• At Madras = Tuesday = 23-01-1996 = 01-09-1416

All the Muslims in the world believe that the dates given for the Hijra calendar
are in order. How can three dates (1,2 and 3) represent Tuesday? Those who know
that it is wrong are dumb-founded because they should not utter a word at a thing
which the 'illiterate' Prophet had taught!

"Follow the revelation which is revealed to you from your Lord." (6:106). The
Prophet is asked to read. Who must read first? If we have lost common-sense no
one can help us. The mischief-mongers have fabricated false stories and said that
the Prophet was an illiterate and we have believed it without thinking, like the
fish which swallowed the bait that concealed a hook attached to a line! It is the
Satan's trap set up in lure to drag us into the hell without our notice.

This ignorance has taken us to the plight of the lowest. All other communities
observe their festivals in one day. They unite in their Eids. But the Muslims
believe that they should not unite even on the new year's day! Muslims have many
new year days in a year! If Makkah had new year's day on Friday, Kerala would have
it on Saturday and Tamilnadu on Sunday!

Now let us examine the historic evidence to see whether the Prophet knew how to
write? A man who could write must be able to read from a book. This is again
common-sense, which we lack. The Hudaibiyya act is a very important event in the
Islamic History. We need not go into the details of it. To sum it up, Hazrat Ali
(r.a) was the scribe who wrote the pact as dictated by the Prophet. It read :
"This is the agreement between Muhammad, the Prophet of Allah and the Quraish".
When it was read, the Quraish objected to it saying that if they had agreed that
he was the Prophet of Allah, there would not have been a dispute, which ultimately
led to this pact. There upon the Prophet ordered Ali to change it according to
their request. Hazrat Ali, out of deep respect for the prophet did not like to
strike off "Rasoolullah" and write Muhammad bin Abdullah. The Prophet took the
writing from him and wrote with his own hand. "This is what Muhammad the son of
Abdullah has decreed". This event is recorded in Fat-hul Bari under the title
"what the Prophet wrote"

To those who have not read the real Islamic literature and seen what others have
piled up in volumes to denounce Islam, this would appear to be an innovation and a
novel idea. We should understand that the Sayyidul Mursaleen cannot be an
illiterate. History has recorded that Moosa (asw) and Iesa (asw) wrote books. How
could the Prophet be an illiterate?

Nabbiyyul Ummy is a title of the Prophet because he was raised among the Ummys. It
is not in the literal meaning of the word 'Ummy', that he is addressed the Ummy
Prophet. We often call a dark man a fair man. It is not at all strange to call a
person with a name bearing opposite meaning. There are many examples for this.

The Qur'an reads: "among them are Ummys, they do not know the book except by lip
version. They only guess things"(2:78). This is said about the jews who perverted
the scriptures. Can the Muslims and the other Prophets also be like the Ummys,
illiterate? Not at all, Muslims and the Prophets must be literate.

Because we degrade the Holy Prophet to the level of a mere illiterate, we are
degraded and humiliated among the people of the world. When a new science is
revealed we believe that since the Prophet was an illiterate his statement would
be those of an illiterate. When he said that if two Muslims witnessed the onset of
the month you begin the fasting and if two Muslims witnessed the passing away of
it you stop fasting, we are not ready to believe even if the whole Muslim world
bore witness. We believe that the Prophet was an illiterate and how could he have
the knowledge about this age of science and technology?

We believe that the Prophet would have meant two witnesses from the vicinity only
and we think that we must not accept the news from Makkah because it is far away
and we must continue fasting even though the Muslims at Makkah are celebrating
Eid! We do not know that the days and dates are same for all in the world. The
Prophet had taught that the days and the dates are common for all, during the
Hajjathul Wida to a gathering from far and wide.

We do not know anything about time management in the world. But the Qur'an
teaches us how to manage time by ordering the followers to establish the prayers
punctually at five definite times a day. Those ahead in time must go ahead. Those
behind must act accordingly. But we have no time sense, we postpone the activities
and lose the opportunity given by Allah (swt).

Let us try to understand things and try to be more sensible so that we may be able
to ward off humiliation in this world and a severe punishment in the hereafter.
May Allah guide us to the right path (Amin)

By
Chairman, Hijra committee of India
Ernakulam 08-04-2001/14-01-1422

www.hijracalendar.com