Al-Jumu'ah: (2) He it is Who sent...

"He it is Who sent among the unlettered" (meaning, glorified be He, the Arabs, because most of them do not write nor read). Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Al-Nasa’i recorded from Ibn Umar, from the Prophet (may Allah exalt him and grant him peace) that he said: "We are an unlettered nation; we do not write and we do not calculate." By this it is intended that they remain upon the state in which their mothers gave birth to them, having not learned writing or calculation, thus they remain upon their original innate nature. The term "unlettered" (ummi) is attributed to the mother (umm) who bore them. It is also said it refers to the nation (ummah) of the Arabs, and it is also said to refer to the Mother of Cities (Umm al-Qura). The first is the most famous, and some have restricted its interpretation to one who does not write. Writing, as it is said, originated in Ta'if; they learned it from the people of Al-Hirah, and they were from the people of Al-Anbar. It has been read as Al-Amin with the deletion of the relative ya.

"A messenger from among them" means one existing among their group; the "from" (min) is for partiality (tab'idiyyah). This partiality is either with respect to the species—in which case it does not indicate that he (upon him be peace and prayer) was unlettered—or with respect to the specific attribute shared by the majority, in which case it does indicate it. A group has chosen this, so the meaning is: a messenger from among their group, unlettered like them.

"Reciting unto them His verses" – while he is unlettered like them, from whom neither reading nor learning was known.

"And purifying them" is a conjunction to "reciting," and it is also an adjective for "a messenger," meaning he leads them toward that by which they become purified and cleansed from the impurities of beliefs and deeds.

"And teaching them the Book and Wisdom" is also an adjective for "a messenger," occurring in existence after the recitation. The purification—which is the expression of perfecting the soul according to its practical power and refining it—was placed between them; this is derived from perfecting it according to the theoretical power attained by learning, which is consequent upon the recitation. This is to signal that each of the consequent matters is a glorious blessing in its own right, deserving of gratitude. Had the order of existence been observed, it might have occurred to the understanding that they were all one blessing, as passed in Surat Al-Baqarah. This is the secret behind expressing the Quran at one time as "verses" and another as "the Book and Wisdom," symbolizing that it is, in consideration of each title, a separate blessing. It does not invalidate this that "Wisdom" includes what is within the folds of the Prophetic Hadith regarding rulings and laws, as some of the eminent scholars have stated. It is permitted that "the Book and Wisdom" is a metonymy for all transmitted and rational sciences, just as the heavens and the earth represent all existing things, and the Ansar and the Muhajirun represent all the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them). In this, there is an indication of the abundance of his knowledge (may Allah exalt him and grant him peace). If he (upon him be peace and prayer) had no other miracle than this, it would suffice him, as Al-Busiri indicated by his saying:

Your knowledge suffices as a miracle for the unlettered one in the Age of Ignorance, And your refinement suffices for the orphan.

"Although they had been, before, in clear error" – from polytheism and the impurity of the Age of Ignorance. This is an explanation of the intensity of their need for someone to guide them, even if the attribution of error to them is with respect to the majority, for among them were people like Waraqah and his peers. In the discourse, there is a removal of what might be imagined regarding his (upon him be peace and prayer) learning from others. "And" (wa-in) is the lightened [form of innama], and the lam is the separator.