وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُوا۟ مِن قَبْلِهِۦ مِن كِتَـٰبٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُۥ بِيَمِينِكَ ۖ إِذًا لَّٱرْتَابَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ 48
Translations
And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Then [i.e., otherwise] the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.
Transliteration
Wa mā kunta tatluā min qablihi min kitābin wa lā takhuttuhu bi-yamīnika, idhān la-rtāba al-mubṭilūn
Tafsir (Explanation)
This ayah addresses the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), affirming that he was unlettered (ummi)—neither reading nor writing before revelation—as a decisive proof against the claims of disbelievers who sought reasons to doubt him. Classical scholars like Ibn Kathir and Al-Tabari emphasize that the Prophet's illiteracy was a miraculous sign (mu'jizah), as his ability to preserve and transmit the Quran without prior knowledge of scripture eliminated any accusation that he had merely copied from previous scriptures or learned from others. Had the Prophet possessed literacy and scriptural knowledge beforehand, the disbelievers (al-mubṭilūn) would have found grounds to claim he fabricated the Quran from existing sources.
Revelation Context
This ayah is contextually situated in the broader Meccan period response to disbeliever accusations against the Prophet's claim of prophethood. It directly addresses the Quranic defense against allegations that Muhammad had learned from Jewish and Christian scholars or written his own scripture, a common objection raised by the Meccan polytheists seeking to discredit his message.
Related Hadiths
Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said, 'The best of you are those who learn the Quran and teach it' (Sahih Bukhari 5027). Additionally, the Prophet's illiteracy is confirmed in multiple hadith collections, including reports that he asked companions to write revelations for him, establishing his confirmed inability to read and write.
Themes
Key Lesson
The Quran's preservation through an unlettered messenger demonstrates that its source is divine, not human scholarship; this teaches us that God's guidance transcends human limitations and credentials, encouraging believers to trust in the authenticity of Islamic teachings regardless of worldly learning markers.