“And thus We have sent down to you the Book. So those to whom We gave the Scripture believe in it, and among these are some who believe in it. None reject Our verses except the disbelievers. And before this, you did not recite any scripture, nor did you write it with your right hand; otherwise, those who spread falsehood would have had cause for doubt.”
His saying, exalted is He: “And thus”—that is, just as We sent down the Scriptures to them—“We have sent down to you the Book. So those to whom We gave the Scripture believe in it”: meaning, the believing People of the Book, Abd Allah ibn Salam and his companions. “And among these”—meaning, the people of Mecca—“are some who believe in it,” namely, the believers among the people of Mecca. “None reject Our verses except the disbelievers.” ⦗68b⦘ This is because the Jews knew that Muhammad was a prophet and that the Quran was true, yet they rejected it. Qatada said: “Rejection only occurs after knowledge.”
“And before this, O Muhammad, you did not recite any scripture”—that is, before the Book was sent down to you—“nor did you write it with your right hand,” meaning, nor did you write it. That is, before the Revelation, you neither read nor wrote. “Otherwise, those who spread falsehood would have had cause for doubt”: that is, had you been writing or reading books before the Revelation, the falsehood-mongering idolaters of Mecca would have doubted and said, “He reads it from the books of the ancients and copies it from them.” This was stated by Qatada. Muqatil said: “Those who spread falsehood” are the Jews. Its meaning is: they would then have doubted you and accused you, saying, “The one whose description we find in the Torah is unlettered: he neither reads nor writes, whereas this man does not fit that description.” (1)
(1) Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir said (3/418): “That is, you, Muhammad, remained among your people for a lifetime before bringing this Quran, without reading any book or knowing how to write. Rather, everyone among your people and others knew that you were an unlettered man who neither read nor wrote. This is likewise how he is described in the earlier scriptures, as Allah the Exalted says: ‘Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find written in the Torah and the Gospel...’ [Quran 7:157]. The Messenger of Allah remained thus throughout his life: he did not know how to write and did not write a line or a letter with his own hand. He had scribes who wrote down the revelation in his presence and composed letters to the various regions.
“Some later jurists, such as Qadi Abu al-Walid al-Baji and those who followed him, claimed that he wrote at al-Hudaybiyyah: ‘This is what Muhammad ibn Abdullah has agreed to ...’ They based this only on a narration in Sahih al-Bukhari stating, ‘Then he took it and wrote.’ This should be understood in light of the other narration: ‘Then he ordered it to be written.’ For this reason, the jurists of both East and West strongly denounced those who held al-Baji’s view and disassociated themselves from it. Al-Baji apparently intended only that he wrote this as a miracle, not that he knew how to write. This is like his statement concerning the Dajjal (the False Messiah): ‘Written between his eyes is kafir (disbeliever),’ and in another narration: ‘Kaf, fa, ra; every believer will read it.’ The report cited by some, claiming that he did not die until he had learned to write, is weak and has no basis.
See also Al-Radd al-Shafi al-Wafir ala Man Nafa Ummiyyat Sayyid al-Awwalin wal-Akhirin, by Ahmad ibn Hajar Al ibn Ali; above, 3/288; and Ibn Atiyyah, al-Muharrar al-Wajiz, 12/231.”