Transliteration:( Huwal lazee ba'asa fil ummiyyeena Rasoolam min hum yatloo 'alaihim aayaatihee wa yuzakkeehim wa yu'allimuhumul Kitaaba wal Hikmata wa in kaanoo min qablu lafee dalaalim mubeen )
"It is He Who raised among the unlettered people a Messenger from among themselves, who recites to them His Verses and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and the Wisdom, although they were before that in clear error."
The word "Ummiyeen" refers to people who were generally uneducated and did not possess a tradition of revealed scripture. Allah raised the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ from among them—a Prophet who, despite being unlettered, brought unmatched knowledge and guidance.
The term "Ummi" has deeper meanings:
One who was not formally taught by any human.
One who appeared in Makkah, the mother of all cities.
A unique personality, whose mother was highly dignified.
A Prophet divinely taught, even from the womb.
The Prophet ﷺ recites Allah’s verses to the people, making the Qur'an accessible. This recitation wasn't just reading—it was a means of instruction, so people could hear, reflect, and learn the divine message.
The verse highlights that spiritual purification (of heart and soul) comes through the Prophet ﷺ, not merely through personal reasoning.
Deeds are the path to achieving this purity.
Qur'an and Hadith require proper teaching. If human intellect were enough, there would be no need for a Prophet to explain and guide.
"Book" refers to the Holy Qur’an.
"Wisdom" refers to Hadith Shareef.
This affirms that both Qur’an and Hadith are essential for proper understanding and guidance. One should not try to interpret the Qur'an solely through personal logic—it must be understood in the light of the Prophet’s ﷺ teachings.
"Allah sends astray many by it and guides many…" (Surah Al-Baqarah 2:26)
Before the Prophet’s ﷺ arrival, the Arabs were in clear misguidance—socially, spiritually, and morally. Though rare individuals like Waraqah ibn Nawfal and Zaid ibn Amr were upright, the majority were steeped in ignorance and polytheism.
This also proves that the Prophet ﷺ was not taught by anyone among the people, as the society itself lacked knowledge and guidance—affirming that his knowledge was divinely bestowed.
The tafsir of Surah Jumuah verse 2 by Ibn Kathir is unavailable here.
Please refer to Surah Jumuah ayat 1 which provides the complete commentary from verse 1 through 4.
(62:2) He it is Who has sent to the gentiles a Messenger from among themselves,[2] one who rehearses to them His verses, purifies their lives, and imparts to them the Book and the Wisdom[3] although before that they were in utter error;[4]
2. Here the word ummi (gentile) has been used as a Jewish term and there is a subtlety in it. The verse means: The All- Mighty and All-Wise Allah has raised a Messenger (peace be upon him) among the Arabs whom the Jews contemptuously consider the gentiles and much below themselves, The Messenger (peace be upon him) has not risen of his own wish and will, but has been raised by Him Who is the Sovereign of the universe, Who is All-Mighty and All-Wise, Whose power can be resisted and opposed only to one’s own loss and peril.
One should know that the word ummi has occurred in the Quran at several places but in different meanings at different places. At one place it has been used for the people who do not possess any revealed scripture, which they may he following, as in (Surah Aal-Imran, Ayat 20), where it has been said: Ask those who possess the Book and those who do not possess (ummis); Have you accepted Islam. Here, the ummis imply the Arab polytheists, and they have been regarded as a separate class from the followers of the Book, i.e. the Jews and the Christians. At another place, it has been used for the illiterate people among the Jews and Christians, who are ignorant of the Book of Allah, as in (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 78): Among the Jews there are some illiterate people (ummis) who have no knowledge of the Book but are guided by mere conjecture and guesswork. At still another place, this word has been used purely as a Jewish term, which implies all the non-Jewish people, as in (Surah Aal-Imran, Ayat 75) (The actual cause of this dishonesty of theirs is that they say): We are not to be called to account for out behavior towards the non-Jews (ummis). This third meaning of ummi is implied in the verse under discussion. It is a synonym of the Hebrew word goyim, which has been translated gentiles in the English Bible and implies all the non-Jewish or the non-Israelite people of the world.
But the real significance of this Jewish term cannot be understood only by this explanation of it. The Hebrew word goyim originally was used only in the meaning of a nation, but gradually the Jews reserved it first for the nation other then themselves, then they gave it the special meaning
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