So when he left them behind by making the Hijrah, Allah visited them with a painful punishment on the Day of Badr and on other occasions.

His word, “They were very nearly about to tempt you away” (Al-Isrāʾ 73), alludes to their attempts to corrupt his will, while His word, “They were very nearly about to drive you out of the land” (Al-Isrāʾ 76), points to their efforts to render him powerless.

The Exalted also says: “You never recited any book before it, nor did you write one with your right hand; had you done so, those who follow falsehood would surely have doubted.” (Al-ʿAnkabūt 48)

In this verse Allah makes clear a fact known alike to common folk and scholars, to all of his people who lived with him, and—through mass-transmitted reports—to those who had not been present with him but received accounts of him from people generally: he was unlettered. He never read a book, never memorized any written work—revealed or otherwise—never read a single written line, whether from a revealed scripture or not, never wrote anything with his right hand, and never copied a text from anyone’s scriptures, revealed or otherwise.

It is self-evident that anyone who learns from another must either receive the material by rote and commit it to memory, or