Document Type : Research Paper

Author

• haitham boozar

Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, Malayer University, Malayer, Iran

Abstract

The dominant discourse in Quranic sciences posits the "Prophet’s Ummī status" as the primary reason for the miraculous nature of the Quran and a decisive response to the accusation of borrowing from earlier texts. Using a descriptive-analytical method and semantic analysis of all occurrences of the term “أُمّی” in the Quran—along with an examination of its contextual opposition to “Ahl al-Kitāb” (People of the Book)—this study demonstrates that the core meaning of the term refers to the collective identity of a “non-scriptural community,” rather than proving the absolute individual illiteracy of the Prophet.
Furthermore, an evaluation of the chain of transmission and content of explicit traditions on this subject reveals that these narrations are, at best, solitary reports lacking widespread transmission (tawātur) and are contradicted by other narrations that negate absolute illiteracy and inability to write. By tracing the historical genealogy of the view that the Prophet was illiterate, it becomes clear that the transformation of “Ummī” into a theological argument first took place in the late third century AH, as a defensive response by theologians to allegations of borrowing. This historical construct gradually became established in the exegetical and theological tradition and even framed Western orientalist debates within the same binary of “illiteracy versus miracle.”
Therefore, this study seeks to offer a new and constructive interpretation of this concept, one that can firmly respond to the accusation of borrowing without relying on the notion of “absolute illiteracy,” while grounding the Quran’s miraculous nature on a more solid foundation.

Keywords

• Illiteracy
• Collective Identity
• Discourse Analysis
• Inimitability of the Quran
• Semantic Analysis

Main Subjects

• قرآن پژوهی