I ask first about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): did he read, or was he illiterate?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : I ask first about the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).
The Shaykh : O Allah, send blessings and peace upon him.
The questioner : Did he read, or was he illiterate?
The Shaykh : The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was illiterate, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-A'raf 7:158] and as He said: [Al-'Ankabut 29:48].
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So he (peace and blessings be upon him) was illiterate, neither reading nor writing. When the Qur'an was revealed to him, he began to read.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : But did he write? This is a point of disagreement among the scholars. Some said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), after the revelation was sent down to him, began to read and write, because Allah only qualified the absence of writing as being before the revelation of the Qur'an.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh :[Al-'Ankabut 29:48] And as for after that, he used to write. And some of the scholars said that he (peace and blessings be upon him) remained a non-writer until Allah took his soul.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : His second question says.
The Shaykh : O Allah, send blessings and peace upon him.
The questioner : Did he read, or was he illiterate?
The Shaykh : The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was illiterate, as Allah the Exalted said:
So believe in Allah and His Messenger, the unlettered prophet
فآمنوا بالله ورسوله النبي الأميAnd you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.
وما كنت تتلوا من قبله من كتاب ولا تخطه بيمينك إذًا لارتاب المبطلونThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : So he (peace and blessings be upon him) was illiterate, neither reading nor writing. When the Qur'an was revealed to him, he began to read.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : But did he write? This is a point of disagreement among the scholars. Some said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), after the revelation was sent down to him, began to read and write, because Allah only qualified the absence of writing as being before the revelation of the Qur'an.
The questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh :
And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand
وما كنت تتلو من قبله من كتاب ولا تخطه بيمينكThe questioner : Yes.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : His second question says.