Ummi: Illiterate or Gentile?

[Qualities of Allah]

Salam,
I have been thinking this for a quite long time. I have heard that Ummi does not mean "illiterate" but "one who has no knowledge of the Book (Gentile)." On top of that, I have come across Verses like 3:20 and 62:2. Quran 3:20 says:

"So if they argue with you ˹O Prophet˺, say, 'I have submitted myself to Allah, and so have my followers.' And ask those who were given the Scripture and the illiterate ˹people˺ 'Have you submitted yourselves ˹to Allah˺?' If they submit, they will be ˹rightly˺ guided. But if they turn away, then your duty is only to deliver ˹the message˺. And Allah is All-Seeing of ˹His˺ servants."

This verse mentioned the People of the Book and "the illiterate" people. Does this mean that all the pagans of Arabia were illiterate? And if all of them were not, this Verse makes it sound like the Prophet will only guide the People of the Book and the illiterates (only) from among the pagans of Arabia (the literate of the pagans of Arabia will be left out from guidance).
Also, Gentiles are the opposite of the People of the Book so the Quran most likely wants Ummi to mean Gentile. Furthermore, Quran 62:2 says:

"He is the One Who raised for the illiterate ˹people˺ a messenger from among themselves—reciting to them His revelations, purifying them, and teaching them the Book and wisdom, for indeed they had previously been clearly astray—"

Again, Prophet Muhammad was raised with people that are literally illiterate? This Verse again makes it sound like all pagans of Arabia were illiterate. The "illiterate" part is rather metaphorical I think. It does not really mean the pagans of Arabia were illiterate. This means that they were illiterate in the sense that they had no Divine Revelation, which basically would mean a Gentile.

Also, this raises another question. Does that mean the Prophet was also not illiterate? This means that the Prophet was just a Gentile before Revelation? Also the first Verse of Surah Alaq tells everyone to read. If the Prophet was preaching Surah Alaq and being illiterate at the same time, would not that be hypocritical? Probably the Prophet was illiterate then became literate because of the Revelation or the Prophet was always literate?

[QuranSearchCom]

Wa Alaikum As'salam,

Ummi has different meanings.  The hadiths and Seerah (history of early Islam) say the Prophet was illiterate.  I believe the Prophet learned how to read and write during his Prophethood, as this was the first Command Allah Almighty Commanded him: "Read".  The Glorious Quran also speaks strongly against ignorance, laziness and being negative:

www.answering-christianity.com/quran_moral_code.htm


Also when the battle of Badr was over, which was the first battle the Muslims fight, Prophet Muhammad's condition for setting the pagan prisoners free, who couldn't afford to ransom themselves out, was that they each teach ten Muslims how to read and write.


Take care,
Osama

[Qualities of Allah]

If you believed that the Prophet became literate, then why did you say in one post that the Prophet had many scribes to write letters? Would he not write them by himself?

[QuranSearchCom]

Even if he learned how to read and write, he would still need scribes.  That is assuming that the Prophet learned how to read and write quickly.  I am not sure where you're going with this type of questioning.  The Glorious Quran's Text is Miraculous:

www.answering-christianity.com/ac20.htm#links


It is totally irrelevant to the Miracle of the Glorious Quran's Text, Numerical and Scientific Miracles whether the Prophet was illiterate or not.  I personally don't really care.  Can any of your infidels refute the Glorious Quran's Numerical and Scientific Miracles?



No one could:

You could not have planned and wrote the Miraculous Text of the Quran.  The 1000s of numerical and scientific Miracles, and the miracle of the Text Itself and how Words are spelled in certain ways to correlate with certain timings or Numerical Miracle, 100% testify that the Book was indeed from Allah Almighty and none else.  Even your best scribes of today would not have been able to preserve the Glorious Quran like this.  The Quran has 1000s of these Miracles.

So instead of derailing your brain and salvation to Hell with rotten infidels' nonsense, try to see the Glorious Quran in Its own Miracle.  Who really cares who was literate and illiterate back then.



Bible and corrupt books background:

The infidels you speak with come from bible and similar corrupt books background:  www.answering-christianity.com/ac6.htm#links


Such people can never understand the Glorious Quran, the ONE AND ONLY Divine Book on earth.

[Qualities of Allah]

Even if he learned how to read and write, he would still need scribes.  That is assuming that the Prophet learned how to read and write quickly.  I am not sure where you're going with this type of questioning.  The Glorious Quran's Text is Miraculous:

www.answering-christianity.com/ac20.htm#links


It is totally irrelevant to the Miracle of the Glorious Quran's Text, Numerical and Scientific Miracles whether the Prophet was illiterate or not.  I personally don't really care.  Can any of your infidels refute the Glorious Quran's Numerical and Scientific Miracles?



No one could:

You could not have planned and wrote the Miraculous Text of the Quran.  The 1000s of numerical and scientific Miracles, and the miracle of the Text Itself and how Words are spelled in certain ways to correlate with certain timings or Numerical Miracle, 100% testify that the Book was indeed from Allah Almighty and none else.  Even your best scribes of today would not have been able to preserve the Glorious Quran like this.  The Quran has 1000s of these Miracles.

So instead of derailing your brain and salvation to Hell with rotten infidels' nonsense, try to see the Glorious Quran in Its own Miracle.  Who really cares who was literate and illiterate back then.



Bible and corrupt books background:

The infidels you speak with come from bible and similar corrupt books background:  www.answering-christianity.com/ac6.htm#links



Such people can never understand the Glorious Quran, the ONE AND ONLY Divine Book on earth.

Just wanted to let you know that I dont speak with anyone at all through social media, let alone infidels (The only place in the internet I communicate is this website). I come up with these questions from my brain and sometimes Islamic articles and their different opinions and from them ask questions to you and from them I ask you questions. I asked this question because there was a difference of opinion among Islamic websites of what Ummi really means. But thanks to you, I now know that Ummi can have various meanings, so jazakallah for answering this question.