Prophet did not read or write any previous scripture (29:48)
Quran Talk Blog · Article · March 2, 2024
The purpose of this article is only to address the argument some use to claim that verse 48 of Sura 29 (Al-‘Ankaboot / العنكبوت) indicates that the prophet was illiterate and incapable of reading or writing.
Below is the Arabic and the word-by-word translation of the verse.
29:48 You did not read the previous scriptures, nor did you write them with your right hand. In that case, the rejectors would have had reason to harbor doubts.
وَمَا كُنتَ تَتْلُوا۟ مِن قَبْلِهِۦ مِن كِتَـٰبٍ وَلَا تَخُطُّهُۥ بِيَمِينِكَ إِذًا لَّٱرْتَابَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ
The mistake in understanding is to think that the claim made in 29:48 is that the prophet could not “read” ( تَتْلُوا۟) or “write” ( تَخُطُّهُۥ), but this is specifically regarding the previous ( قَبْلِهِۦ) scriptures ( كِتَـٰبٍ).
Before jumpining into the proof that this verse is only regarding the prophet reading or writing previous scriptures, let’s consider that this is in refernce to any book. Even based on this interpretation, the verse does not state that the prophet could not read or write as a general statement. It is specifically in the context of scripture, but let’s assume this is in reference to any book. Even in that paradigm, just because someone did not read or write any book does not mean they are incapable of reading or writing. There are plenty of people today and in history who knew how to read and write yet never read or wrote a book.
But we can easily show that this is specifically in the context of the previous scriptures because if we just go three verses before and three verses after, we see that the prophet was commanded to recite ( ٱتْلُ) what was revealed to him of the scripture and that he “read” ( يُتْلَىٰ) it to them. This is the same word used in , which confirms that was only regarding the previous scriptures. Therefore, if we say that the prophet was incapable of reading then this would contradict and , where we see that this is exactly what the prophet did in refernce to the Quran.