أُمِّىٌّ

Root: ام

Full Definition

أُمِّىٌّ and أُمَّانٌ [the former a rel. n. from أُمَّةٌ, and thus properly meaning Gentile: whence, in a secondary, or tropical, sense, a heathen;] one not having a revealed scripture; so applied by those having a revealed scripture: [and particularly] an Arab: [or] in the proper language [of the Arabs], of, or belonging to, or relating to, the nation (أُمَّة) of the Arabs, who did not write nor read: and therefore metaphorically applied to any one not knowing the art of writing nor that of reading: or one who does not write; because the art of writing is acquired; as though he were thus called in relation to the condition in which his mother (أُمَّهُ) brought him forth: or one who is in the natural condition of the nation (الأُمَّة) to which he belongs, in respect of not writing, or not having learned writing; thus remaining in his natural state: or one who does not write well; said to be a rel. n. from أمٌّ; because the art of writing is acquired, and such a person is as his mother brought him forth, in respect of ignorance of that art; or, as some say, from أُمَّةُ العَرَبِ; because most of the Arabs were of this description: the art of writing was known among the Arabs [in the time of Mohammad] by the people of Et-Táïf, who learned it from a man of the people of El-Heereh, and these had it from the people of El-Ambár. أُمِّيُّون لَا يَعْلَمُونَ, الكِتَابَ, in the Kur ii. 73, means Vulgar persons, [or heathen,] who know not the Book of the Law revealed to Moses: or ignorant persons, who know not writing, so that they may read that book; or, who know not the Book of the Law revealed to Moses. Mohammad was termed أُمِّىّ [meaning A Gentile, as distinguished from an Israelite: or, accord. to most of his followers, meaning illiterate;] because the nation (أُمَّة) of the Arabs did not write, nor read writing; and [they say that] God sent him as an apostle when he did not write, nor read from a book; and this natural condition of his was one of his miraculous signs, to which reference is made in the Kur [xxix. 47], where it is said, “thou didst not read, before it, from a book, nor didst thou write it with thy right hand:” but accord. to the more correct opinion, he was not well acquainted with written characters nor with poetry, but he discriminated between good and bad poetry: or, as some assert, he became acquainted with writing after he had been unacquainted therewith, on account of the expression “ before it ” in the verse of the Kur mentioned above: or, as some say, this may mean that he wrote though ignorant of the art of writing, like as some of the kings, being أُمِّيُّون, write their signs, or marks: or, accord. to Jaafar Es-Sádik, he used to read from the book, or scripture, if he did not write. [Some judicious observations on this word are comprised in Dr. Sprenger's Life of Mohammad ; a work which, in the portion already published , contains much very valuable information.]
2 Also, or [only] أُمِّىٌّ, applied to a man, Impotent in speech, (عَيِىّ, in the K incorrectly written غَبِىّ, TA,) of few words, and rude, churlish, uncivil, or surly.

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