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أُمِّىٌّ ذ (T, M, Mgh, Msb, K) and ↓ أُمَّانٌ (K) [the former a rel. n. from أُمَّةٌ, and thus properly meaning Gentile: whence, in a secondary, or tropical, sense,(assumed tropical:) a heathen;] (assumed tropical:) one not having a revealed scripture; (Bd in iii. 19 and 69;) so applied by those having a revealed scripture: (Bd in iii.69:) [and particularly] an Arab: (Jel in iii. 69, and Bd and Jel in lxii. 2:) [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 (tropical:) any one not knowing the art of writing nor that of reading: (Mgh:) or (assumed tropical:) one who does not write; (T, M, K;) 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: (T:) or (assumed tropical:) one who is in the natural condition of the nation (الأُمَّة) to which he belongs, (Zj, * T, M, * K, *) in respect of not writing, (T,) or not having learned writing; thus remaining in his natural state: (M, K:) or (assumed tropical:) 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: (Msb:) 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. (T.) 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: (Jel:) 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. (Bd.) 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:” (T, TA:) 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: (TA:) or, accord. to Jaafar Es-Sádik, he used to read from the book, or scripture, if he did not write. (Kull p. 73.) [Some judicious observations on this word are comprised in Dr. Sprenger's Life of Mohammad (pp. 101-2); a work which, in the portion already published (Part I.), contains much very valuable information.] ― -b2- Also, (K,) or [only] أُمِّىٌّ, (AZ, T, M,) applied to a man, (AZ, T,) Impotent in speech, (عَيِىّ, in the K incorrectly written غَبِىّ, TA,) of few words, and rude, churlish, uncivil, or surly. (AZ, T, M, K.)
An Arabic-English Lexicon. London. Williams and Norgate. 1863.
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