Ummī

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Ummī (Arab.). A term used in Qurʾān 7. 157 and 158, al-rasūl al-nabī al-ummī (‘the prophet, messenger, the unlettered one’), denoting Muḥammad. It is traditionally (and generally by Muslims) understood as meaning that Muḥammad was totally unable to read or write, so emphasizing the miracle (iʿjāz) of the Qurʾān, with its surpassing eloquence coming into being via a complete illiterate. If, however, ummī is read as expressing a distinction from the Jews (who were ‘people with a book’), then it must mean ‘scriptureless’, i.e. ‘illiterate’ in being, as yet, without an Arabic scripture.

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