Readers have probably noted that in this 40 year lifespan, no allusion has been made to the education of the Holy Prophetsa. In actuality, the level of education in Arabia was very low, and in this regard, there was little difference between the nobles and commoners. As a matter of fact, even influential chieftains were generally as uneducated and illiterate as were the common people. There is no doubt that educated individuals were found here and there throughout the country. Such people were found more in Makkah as compared to other places. However, it is proven that the Holy Prophetsa was completely illiterate and uneducated.1 It seems as if it was the hand of God in the illiteracy of the Holy Prophetsa, so that the grandeur of his scholarly miracle could be further magnified. Along with this, we learn that many letters and treaties, etc. were often prepared before the Holy Prophetsa and were continually observed by him during the period of his prophethood. As a result, he developed a recognition of letters to some extent, later on in his life. Therefore, it becomes evident from one Ḥadīth, that on the occasion of the Treaty of Ḥudaibiyah whilst the treaty was being prepared, the Holy Prophetsa crossed the words ‘Rusūlullāh’2 by his own hand and wrote ‘Ibn ‘Abdullāh’ in its place after the infidels objected to it.3 It is quite possible that the use of the root word كَتَبَ in Ḥadīth about that occasion, meaning ‘to write’, could also imply ‘to get written’. This is because, sometimes, ‘writing’ and ‘to get written’ is denoted by the same word in general conversation. In this case, the meaning (of the word كَتَبَ) would be that the portion of the treaty which the Holy Prophetsa crossed, was crossed by his own hand, but whatever was written afterwards was written by his scribe. In any case, whichever meaning is accepted, it does not affect the illiteracy of the Holy Prophetsa.
1 Al-A‘rāf (7:159), Al-‘Ankabūt (29:49)
2 Messenger of Allāh (Publishers)
3 Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, Kitābuṣ-Ṣulḥ, Bābu Kaifa Yuktabu Hādhā mā Ṣālaḥa Fulānubnu Fulānin, Ḥadīth No. 2699