he crafty scholars, among the Jews, kept the knowledge of the scriptures exclusively to themselves and told only

lies in front of the illiterates in order to exert and maintain power over those of them who did not know the books. It is a warning to mankind in general that the illiterate, as opposed to the scheming scholar, is the innocent victim of priest-class falsehood and tyranny. Barring the common people from access to means of gaining knowledge, the clever set successfully maintains exclusive control and power, deliberately keeping others deprived, and in darkness.

Aqa Mahdi Puya says: The word ummi generally means one who can neither write nor read. Here it is used for those Jews who could neither read nor write. In many places the Quran addresses the Arabs as ummies. With reference to the use of ummi for the Holy Prophet, commentators say that it is either because the Holy Prophet could neither write nor read, or because he was one of the Arabs, or because he was the inhabitant of the city of Makka known as the Ummul-Qura. Ummi can also be derived from the word umm-the mother. Ummi means the person who remains the same in his native endowments as was born, without receiving any education or training from any (outside) source. The Holy Prophet did not receive knowledge or education from any mortal but by Allah Himself. He was born with divinely endowed .wisdom and remained the same, without letting any worldly agency influence his self, tutored and perfected by Allah Himself. Allah has revealed to you the book and the wisdom and taught you what you did not know. Great has been the grace of Allah on you. (NISA: 113) Please refer to verse 12 of Ya Sin, verses 1 to 4 of al Rahman and verses 4 and 5 of al Najm. It is He who raised among the ummies a messenger from amongst them, who recites His signs to them, reforms them and teaches them the book and the wisdom (JUMU-AH: 2), so it is absurd to believe that Allah had sent an illiterate to teach the book and the wisdom to the illiterates.

Imam Jafar bin Muhammad al Sadiq has said that the conscience of every human being tells him not to follow blindly any one who pretends to be a guide without having the necessary merits, therefore, he cannot wholly blame others for being ignorant of the divine guidance because of the trickery of the false guides he chooses to follow.
Refer to the commentary of Baqarah: 30 to 38; Hijr: 26 to 29 and Sajdah: 9. The first man, Adam, was created pure, free from sin. Verse 9 of Hijr says that Allah breathed His spirit (ruh) into man (Adam), so he reflected divinity which carried knowledge originating from the beneficent Lord as stated in verse 31 of al Baqarah-Allah taught Adam "the names" (the actuality of the panjatan), the source of knowledge of all things. According to verse 59 of An-am the knowledge of everything, wet or dry, is in the Quran. This is the man who has been referred to in verse 3. Sinning was introduced to man by Iblis after man's creation. Allah asked the angels to prostrate before Adam after breathing His spirit into him. The prostration was not made before the body of Adam but before the spirit of Allah which carried life or existence (hayat), knowledge (ilm) and authority (qudrat). As the angels did not have the knowledge taught to Adam, the command to accept Adam's superiority was just. It means that the integration of divine faculties in Adam took place because of the spirit of Allah which purified him. Adam was the grand sire of the thoroughly purified Ahl ul Bayt mentioned in Ahzab: 33. The Holy Prophet said: "I was the prophet of Allah when Adam was yet in the (womb) of water and clay. It was my light (nur) which Allah created before all creation." Thus "man" (insan) referred to in this verse is the divinely conditioned, integrated and perfected being of the Holy Prophet. It was this original purity of the Holy Prophet which, when was invested with Adam, entitled him to receive obeisance from the angels. The Holy Prophet's light passed through the progeny of Adam, manifested in the messengers and prophets of Allah, and reached Abdul Muttalib. Then it bifurcated into his two sons Abdullah and Abu Talib; and from Abdullah it manifested in Muhammad and from Abu Talib it manifested in Ali. The Holy Prophet said: "I and Ali are from one and the same light." Then again these two rays of the divine light were united, through Ali and Fatimah, and manifested in Hasan, Husayn and the nine Imams in their progeny mentioned in the commentary of Baqarah :124. The light of the perfected man, the Holy Prophet, carried wisdom, purity and authority

and manifested them in the chain of prophets as mentioned above. Verse 14 of Ala and verse 9 of Shams say: "He indeed will succeed who cleanses (purifies) himself." So those who desire to attain success have to attach themselves to the thoroughly purified Ahl ul Bayt and follow their teachings and life pattern. Any deviation from them will lead to pollution, evil and wickedness. Bayan means intelligent speech, power of expression, capacity to understand clearly the relations of things and revelation in nature and to explain them. The revelation given to man through prophets is the highest example of bayan as verse 138 of Ali Imran asserts. The Quran (bayan) the Holy Prophet recited to mankind has no equal. Refer to Baqarah: 23; Yunus: 37 and 38; Hud: 13; Bani Israil: 88 and Tur: 34.

Aqa Mahdi Puya says: Man has been endowed with the faculties of contemplation and expression. The degree and the time of development of these endowments distinguishes one man from another. In prophets and their divinely chosen successors they are found in fully developed form from the day they are created. According to Najm: 1 to 10 the Holy Prophet, as the manifestation of the universal beneficence, precedes and surpasses all the messengers and prophets of Allah. Imam Jafar bin Muhammad as Sadiq said that bayan is the greatest name of Allah, through which everything is known. It implies that man reflects whatever he receives from the divine source.

Aqa Mahdi Puya says: According to Majmaul Bayan, with the particle ba the translation is "Read in the name of Your Lord," and without ba it would be: "Read the name of your Lord", which is the actual meaning of this verse. In the light of that which is stated in the commentary of Baqarah: 2, 30 to 39, 78; Ali Imran: 7, 48; Ahzab: 21; Zumar: 23; Mumin: 55; Muhammad: 15, 19; Fat-h: 2; Jinn: 26, 27; Takwir: 19 to 21 and in several other verses of the Quran, all that which has been said in connection with the revelation of the first 5 verses of this surah, as the first revelation, are based upon conjecture; and form the root of all derogatory charges levelled against the Holy Prophet by the enemies of Islam. When such slanderous and censorious observations appear in

books and magazines, the Muslim ummah makes a hue and cry in a violent frenzy, without realising the fact that it is their own historians and commentators who have supplied the material on which the conclusions are made by the anti-muslim authors. The life of the Holy Prophet, from his birth to the end, has been described by Imam Ali ibn abi Talib at several places in the Nahj al Balagha, which is the most authentic point of view expressed by any of his biographers till today. The Holy Prophet was taught and tutored by Allah Himself, as stated in Rahman and Najm. He was under the divine care all the time. Since his birth he was fully alive to the task of preaching and conveying the divine message for which he was chosen when Adam was not even created. He was a light, though he lived like a human among people, blessed with divine wisdom, mercy and guidance in order to guide the human beings in all times. See Nisa: 79, Ahzab: 45 to 47; Saba: 28 and Anbiya: 107. According to Najm 9 he was as perfect as his Lord with a fine line of demarcation between the finite and the infinite, on account of which we say in "tashahhud" of every salat that "he is the servant and the messenger of Allah." The Holy Prophet said: "My light was created when Adam was not even in the process of creation.. I and Ali were created from one and the same light." Iqra (read, recite or proclaim) implies that the Holy Prophet knew all the names of Allah which carry the essence of creation and legislation. So he knew the book of Allah also. As said in verses 77 to 79 of Waqi-ah the Holy Prophet and his Ahl ul Bayt alone, in addition to Allah, are aware of the book kept well-guarded in lawh mahfuz. Here he was commanded to recite or read which he already knew. It was the beginning of the gradual revelation. See Ta Ha: 114 and Qiyamah: 16 to 19. Verse 3 repeats the command to recite, and verses 4 and 5 say that Allah has already taught everything which if read with Rahman: 1 to 4 clearly implies that the Holy Prophet who was sent as rahmatun lil alamin (mercy unto the worlds), representing the universal divine grace, was taught by Arrahman as soon as he was created. Thus bi-that does not mean the beginning of his prophethood, but it refers to the beginning of his ministry.