According to Dr Sayyid `Abd al-Latif, it can explicitly be understood from some of the Qur’anic verses that the Prophet (s.a.w.a) could both read and write:
In Surat Ali-`Imran, verse 164, we read:
“Truly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them, and teaching them the Book and the Wisdom, although before that they were in manifest error.” (1)
Dr Abd al-Latif says: “As the Holy Qur’an clearly states, the foremost duty of the Prophet (s.a.w.a) was the teaching the Qur’an to his followers, and it is certain that the minimum capability required for the one who wants to teach the contents of a book to others is, again as the Qur’an states explicitly, being able to make use of the pen or, at least, being able to read what has been written by the pen.”
This reasoning seems queer, as, firstly, what all Muslims unanimously believe in, and he desires to prove the opposite, is that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) neither could write nor read before the appointment to prophethood.
Such reasoning at the most can prove that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) was able to read and write during the period of his prophethood. This is agreed by Sayyid Murtada, Sha’bi and some other people.
Secondly, even as regards the period of prophethood, Dr Abd al-Latif’s reasoning is ineffective; for example, pen, paper, blackboard, drawing, etc, are required when a teacher is to teach reading and writing or to teach mathematics for which he has to solve himself so that the students may learn.
However, there is no need for such tools for Prophets who teach metaphysics, ethics and halal and haram matters.
Among Mashsha’in philosophers (peripatetic philosophers) were called so because they used to walk when teaching and the learners had to take notes in order not to forget the matters taught.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) too frequently advised his followers to write down his sayings. He used to say:
“Record the knowledge”, and when he was asked, “how?”, he answered, “By writing down”. (2)
He also said:
“May Allah grant happiness to the servant who hears what I say records it (in his mind) and conveys it to the one who has not heard me saying that.” (3)
It is in the traditions that the Messenger of Allah twice announced this statement,
“O God bless my successors”. “Who are your successors?”, he was asked, and he replied: “They are those who come after me, who learn my sayings and traditions and teach them to others”. (4)
He also said:
“Among the rights of a child on his father is to choose him a good name, teach him writing, and choose him a spouse when matured.” (5)
The Holy Qur’an states explicitly:
“O believers! whenever you contract a debt with one another for a fixed time, then write it down; and let a scribe write it down between you with equity …”.(6)
Thus, based on the commands of Allah (SWT) and His Prophet (s.a.w.a), Muslims were bound to acquire the noble art of reading and writing in order to preserve their religious heritage; fulfil their duties towards the rights of their children, and to administer well their worldly affairs.
This led to the rise of “the pen movement”, which stimulated the people among whom the literate were only a few, to seek knowledge and to acquire the skills of reading and writing with such an enthusiasm that some of them learned few languages in Medina and could propagate the message of Islam throughout the world in different languages.
History tells us that the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) made the captives of the Battle of Badr free on compensation. Some of them were poor and were freed without paying while some others had the ability to teach writing and each of them was obliged to teach writing to ten children of Medina, in return for their freedom. (7)
This was the extent to which the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) insisted on the learning of reading and writing and on the acquiring of knowledge. But this does not necessarily mean that he had to know and employ these two skills in order to call people to Islam and propagate his religion.
Dr Abd al-Latif says: “In the first surah of the Holy Qur’an, Allah makes mention of `pen’ and `writing’. Isn’t this explicit mentioning proof that the Prophet of Islam knew reading and writing and that he made use of them?
How was it possible that the Holy Prophet encouraged people to seek knowledge and become literate, whilst he himself paid no attention to reading and writing? Although he always had a pioneering role in any activity.”
This is, again, strange reasoning. The initial verses of the above-mentioned surah indicate, of course, that these were revealed to a servant of Allah (SWT), who was in charge of guiding Allah’s other servants, and that the Prophet (s.a.w.a), who received them at his holy heart, acknowledged the value of reading and writing for men. But these verses never suggest that either Allah (SWT) or the Prophet (s.a.w.a) dealt with reading, writing, pen or paper.
Dr Abd al-Latif also says: “The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) was the initiator in practising all that he himself ordered. How could he then order this without doing it himself?”
It is as if to say that a physician who prescribes a medicine for a patient, should first use the medicine himself. Of course, if the physician falls sick and is in need of the same type of medicine, he will definitely take it just as his patient does.
But how about the reverse – when the physician isn’t sick and consequently not in need of such a medicine?
Here we should see whether the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) like others who were in need of learning the arts of reading and writing in order to attain perfection and to remove their defects, had to acquire these two arts and yet, didn’t act upon what he himself ordered, or was he in a state that rendered him independent of them.
The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.a) was the forerunner in matters of worship, devotion, piety, honesty, truth, good-temperedness, democracy, humility, and other good manners. All of these were counted towards his perfection and the lack of these was a defect. But the issue of so-called `literacy’ doesn’t belong to this category.
The unusual value of being literate for human beings is that literacy helps them benefit from one another’s knowledge.
Writing is essentially the conventional symbol used by people to express themselves. In fact, through familiarity with writing, knowledge can be transmitted from one person to another, from one tribe to another and from one generation to another.
Thus, man preserves his knowledge from extinction. This is why being literate is considered equal to knowing languages, i.e, the more languages the man knows, the more means he has at his disposal to acquire knowledge from others.
Both knowing languages and being literate are keys to the acquisition of knowledge rather than the “knowledge” in its real sense. The knowledge implies that the man comes to know of a fact or a law which enjoys reality in the world of existence. Natural sciences, logic, and Mathematics are considered knowledge because they serve the man to discover a real, creative and cause-effect type of relationship among subjective things.
To be continued!
NOTES:
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- (The Holy Quran 3:164)
- Bihar al-Anwar, new impression, vol 2, p 151.
- Al-Kafi, vol 1, p 403.
- Bihar al-Anwar, vol 2, p 144
- Wasa’il al-Shi’a, vol 3, p 134
- (The Holy Quran 2:282)
- Husayn Al-Diyar Bakri, Tarikh al-Khami”, vol 1, p 395; and “Al-Sirah al-Halabiyyah”, vol 2, p 204
