In the event of calamity on Thursday our beloved Prophet (s) was not given a pen and paper. But I have been hearing since childhood that he (s) was unlettered. How can we reconcile these two matters?
The Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) is the most knowledgeable among all the human beings as Allah (SWT) said in Quran to him: (Allah taught you whatever you did not know, and the grace of Allah on you was Great)(Sura 4, verse 113).
The Prophet was sent to teach people the knowledge of the book and the Wisdom (Sura 62, verse 2), so how come the greatest teacher for all human beings is claimed to be illiterate?
The claim that the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) was illiterate was fabricated by Bani Umayya who had a plan to degrade the status of the Prophet and his near ones, and raise the status of his opponents.
The tragedy of Thursday is narrated in the most important Sunni books including Bukhari ( 1:32 Baab Kitabat Al-'ilm) and Muslim 3; 1258 and Musnad Ahmad Ibn Hanbal 1;222 and 3;346). The Prophet wanted to write a statement to protect his Ummah from deviation after him, but Omar ibn Al-Khattab objected on the Prophet and not only did not obey his order, but also prevented other Muslims from obeying the Prophet (SAWA).
Wassalam.