Tafseer of The Spider · Al-Ankaboot · 29:48
And you did not recite before it any scripture, nor did you inscribe one with your right hand. Otherwise the falsifiers would have had [cause for] doubt.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the statement of the Exalted: You did not recite before this any book, nor did you write it with your right hand; otherwise the falsifiers (al-mubṭilūn) would surely have doubted (29:48).
The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: You did not — O Muhammad — recite, that is to say: recite aloud, before this, that is to say: before this book that I have sent down to you, any book, nor did you write it with your right hand. He says: and you were not in the habit of writing with your right hand, but you were unlettered (ummī). Otherwise the falsifiers would surely have doubted. He says: and if you, before it was revealed to you, had been in the habit of reading the Book or writing it with your right hand, then they would surely have doubted. He says: then, because of that, they would have doubted your affair and what you have brought them from your Lord, namely this Book that you recite to them — the falsifiers (al-mubṭilūn), who say that it is rhymed prose and soothsaying and that it is the legends of the former peoples.
And in line with what we have said concerning this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Muhammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: You did not recite before this any book, nor did you write it with your right hand; otherwise the falsifiers would surely have doubted. He said: the Prophet of Allah ﷺ was unlettered; he read nothing and did not write.
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: You did not recite before this any book, nor did you write it with your right hand. He said: the Prophet of Allah, before that, read no book at all, nor did he write it with his right hand. He said: he was unlettered, and the unlettered one (al-ummī) is he who does not write.
Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū Usāma related to us, on the authority of Idrīs al-Awdī, on the authority of al-Ḥakam, on the authority of Mujāhid: You did not recite before this any book, nor did you write it with your right hand. He said: the People of the Book found in their scriptures that the Prophet ﷺ would not write with his right hand, nor would he read any book, and thus this verse was sent down.
And in line with what we have likewise said concerning His statement: otherwise the falsifiers would surely have doubted, they have spoken.
* Mention of who said that:
Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: otherwise the falsifiers would surely have doubted — then they would have said: this is merely something that Muhammad ﷺ has learned and written down.
Muhammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: otherwise the falsifiers would surely have doubted. He said: the Quraysh.
