Were the Arabs All Illiterate?

Question

Were the Arabs completely illiterate and ignorant, with not a single literate person among them? And if there were literate people among them, is it correct or incorrect to understand “the unlettered nation” (umma ummiyya) as referring to the Arabs?

Answer

There were literate people among them; for this reason the accepted Messenger of Allah ﷺ used to have the revelation written down, and writing was practised; hadiths, too, were written down by such people, but this was not a general, widespread practice.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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