One of the clear point in the life of\nthe Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) is that he was unschooled and uneducated;\nhe never had a teacher and was not familiar with any books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The people of Hijaz at that time were\ngenerally illiterate, and the number of people who could read or write was very\nfew. Therefore, it was impossible to be learned and not be known among the\npeople in such an environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the Other hand, although those who\nopposed the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) accused him of receiving knowledge\nfrom others, they never accused him of being literate, having books and using\nthem to preach. Indeed, if he had the smallest acquaintance with reading and\nwriting, his opponents would have accused him of being literate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Therefore, we have no evidence that he\nread a single line or wrote a single word; rather the Messenger of Allah\n(PBUH&HP) had a group of \u201csecretaries\u201d who were responsible for recording\nrevelation, the statements of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP), and other\nmatters such as the treaties of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) and the\nletters he sent to outskirts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The experts in eastern studies and the\nwestern historians \u2013 who generally have a critical viewpoint- have not found\nthe smallest sign indicating an instance of reading or writing from the\nMessenger of Allah (PBUH&HP). If there was any indication in this regards,\nthe smart non-Muslims historians would not have missed it. Hence, many of them\nhave acknowledged that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) was unschooled\nhimself and was raised among unscooled people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, Thomas Carlyle writes in\nhis famous book,\u201d One other circumstance we must not forget: that he (Mahomet)\nhad no school learning; of the thing we call school-learning none at all. The\nart of writing was but just introduced into Arabia; it seems to be the true\nopinion that Mahomet never could write! Life in the Desert, with its\nexperiences, was all his education.”(1)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will Durant writes in his book, The\nHistory of Civilization, “They gave him affection and care, but no one\nseems to have bothered to teach him how to read or write; this feeble\naccomplishment was held in low repute by the Arabs of the time; only seventeen\nmen of the Quraish tribe condescended to it. Mohammed was never known to write\nanything himself; he used an amanuensis. His apparent illiteracy did not\nprevent him from composing the most famous and eloquent book in the Arabic\ntongue, and from acquiring such understanding of the management of men as\nseldom comes to highly educated persons”(2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As such, none of the historians \u2013\nMuslims or non-Muslims- has ever claimed that the Messenger of Allah\n(PBUH&HP) had ever learned reading or writing during his childhood, at\nyoung age, or during his prophethood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So we need to realize that how could\nsuch a person, i.e. Muhammad ibn Abdullah (PBUH&HP), offer a valuable book\nlike the Holy Quran to the world; while the history testifies that he never had\na teacher, and was raised in a society so distant from civilization. There is\nno answer to this mystery except to acknowledge that he was related to a\nmetaphysical reality, and to consider him a Messenger sent by Allah (SWT).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(The above is a selection\ntaken from \u201cThe Unschooled Messenger\u201d, by Martyr Murtada Mutahhari (with some\nchanges and additions))<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Roshd Website offers\ncongratulations to all Muslims, especially you dear friend, upon 27th of Rajab,\nthe commencement of the descent of the Holy Quran and the appointment of the\nlast Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammad (PBUH&HP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Footnotes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. \u201cOn heroes,\nhero-worship, and the heroic in history”, lecture II: The Hero as Prophet.\nMahomet: Islam, p. 82<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2. “The\nHistory of Civilization: The Age of Faith”, Volume IV, Book II: Islamic\nCivilization, Chapter VIII: Mohammed, part II: Mohammad in Mecca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the clear point in the life of the Messenger of Allah (PBUH&HP) is that he was unschooled and uneducated; he never had a teacher and was not familiar with any books. The people of Hijaz at that time were generally illiterate, and the number of people who could read or write was very […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28435,28248],"tags":[25283,17778,17912,25140,25284,20922,18426,18418,17955,20007,25282],"class_list":["post-4930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-isra-miraj-mabath","category-occasional-letters","tag-2013-06-07","tag-allah","tag-book","tag-eid-mabath","tag-few","tag-hijaz","tag-messenger","tag-occasion-letters","tag-people","tag-teacher","tag-the-unschooled-messenger"],"yoast_head":"\n