And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming. So woe to those who write the “scripture” with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allah ,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.
What does this verse really say?
Here we find a description of individuals who are described as “unlettered.” The Arabic term is ummiyyun, which literally means they are illiterate. They cannot read! Beyond that, they do not even know the Scripture except in wishful thinking. Their ignorance of the Scriptures and their illiteracy makes them ill prepared to copy the previous revelations, but that is exactly what they try to do. They make handwritten copies of the revelations in order to gain financial income. In the 7th century, there would have been nothing strange about someone writing scriptures by hand; indeed, this was the standard mode of reproducing books and scrolls before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. In other words, all available copies of the previous revelations were written by hand. The problem here is not the scriptures being written by hand – the problem is when illiterate, religiously ignorant moneymakers attempt to pawn off fake copies! This may have brought some monetary income for these tricksters in 7th century Arabia, where many people were illiterate and often kept copies of the scriptures as a way of displaying their religious devotion, even if they could not read it. However, this would be a harder trick to play on individuals who can actually read what is contained inside. A 5-year old child might be able to convince a 4-year old child that the messy marks he has made on a piece of paper actually is a story that he wrote. But an adult, looking at the same paper, will immediately know that it is nothing but incomprehensible scratches. In the same way, it is impossible for these illiterate men to have created anything more convincing than scratch marks.
In each of these verses above, we can see how some of the communities that possessed the earlier revelations often did not handle their scriptures very well. We can see how they were guilty of misinterpretation, oral distortion, forgetfulness, and taking the verses out of context. In one case, illiterate men even tried to sell nonsense as if it were authentic copies of the previous revelations! These many examples remind us of how mankind all throughout history has tried to change the words of Allah. But yet, His words cannot be changed. The corruption could only happen in the minds and mouths of the people. If the previous Scriptures are still reliable revelations from Allah, why do we not see the People of the Book following them more closely? Some Christians claim that for various reasons, some parts of these Scriptures are no longer valid. In our next lesson, we will see why they claim this, and if there are any People of the Book who actually adhere to what the Holy Books say.
And among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Scripture except in wishful thinking, but they are only assuming. So woe to those who write the “scripture” with their own hands, then say, “This is from Allah ,” in order to exchange it for a small price. Woe to them for what their hands have written and woe to them for what they earn.
What does this verse really say?
Here we find a description of individuals who are described as “unlettered.” The Arabic term is ummiyyun, which literally means they are illiterate. They cannot read! Beyond that, they do not even know the Scripture except in wishful thinking. Their ignorance of the Scriptures and their illiteracy makes them ill prepared to copy the previous revelations, but that is exactly what they try to do. They make handwritten copies of the revelations in order to gain financial income. In the 7th century, there would have been nothing strange about someone writing scriptures by hand; indeed, this was the standard mode of reproducing books and scrolls before the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. In other words, all available copies of the previous revelations were written by hand. The problem here is not the scriptures being written by hand – the problem is when illiterate, religiously ignorant moneymakers attempt to pawn off fake copies! This may have brought some monetary income for these tricksters in 7th century Arabia, where many people were illiterate and often kept copies of the scriptures as a way of displaying their religious devotion, even if they could not read it. However, this would be a harder trick to play on individuals who can actually read what is contained inside. A 5-year old child might be able to convince a 4-year old child that the messy marks he has made on a piece of paper actually is a story that he wrote. But an adult, looking at the same paper, will immediately know that it is nothing but incomprehensible scratches. In the same way, it is impossible for these illiterate men to have created anything more convincing than scratch marks.
In each of these verses above, we can see how some of the communities that possessed the earlier revelations often did not handle their scriptures very well. We can see how they were guilty of misinterpretation, oral distortion, forgetfulness, and taking the verses out of context. In one case, illiterate men even tried to sell nonsense as if it were authentic copies of the previous revelations! These many examples remind us of how mankind all throughout history has tried to change the words of Allah. But yet, His words cannot be changed. The corruption could only happen in the minds and mouths of the people. If the previous Scriptures are still reliable revelations from Allah, why do we not see the People of the Book following them more closely? Some Christians claim that for various reasons, some parts of these Scriptures are no longer valid. In our next lesson, we will see why they claim this, and if there are any People of the Book who actually adhere to what the Holy Books say.