The Doubt of Denying the Illiteracy of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
And this is a woman asking. Recently, some messages have spread on social media sites that deny that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was illiterate, and they cite the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Al-'Ankabut 29:48] and he says
The Shaykh:
your mother, this indicates that he was illiterate,[Al-'Ankabut 29:48] the refuting guidance, this indicates that he was illiterate, and he says that he is not illiterate, how is this?
The questioner:
Meaning, completing the question, they say that this is evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) later became able to read and write.
The Shaykh:
He does not read or write. The Messenger does not read or write, but Allah revealed the Qur'an to him and taught it to them, and he was illiterate, peace and blessings be upon him. And teaching is restricted to those who read and write, is not that the highest? Are not many scholars blind? They do not read or write, but they receive knowledge from scholars and memorize it. He is capable of everything. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
And this is a woman asking. Recently, some messages have spread on social media sites that deny that the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) was illiterate, and they cite the saying of Allah the Exalted:
And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand
وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُو مِن قَبْلِهِ مِن كِتَابٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكَThe Shaykh:
your mother, this indicates that he was illiterate,
And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise
وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُو مِن قَبْلِهِ مِن كِتَابٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُ بِيَمِينِكَ إِذًاThe questioner:
Meaning, completing the question, they say that this is evidence that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) later became able to read and write.
The Shaykh:
He does not read or write. The Messenger does not read or write, but Allah revealed the Qur'an to him and taught it to them, and he was illiterate, peace and blessings be upon him. And teaching is restricted to those who read and write, is not that the highest? Are not many scholars blind? They do not read or write, but they receive knowledge from scholars and memorize it. He is capable of everything. Yes.
The presenter:
May Allah reward you,
Source
شرح أحاديث في الفتن والحوادث، قصة الجساسة — islamhouse.com (49:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.