The Quran

هُوَ الَّذي بَعَثَ فِي الأُمِّيّينَ رَسولًا مِنهُم يَتلو عَلَيهِم آياتِهِ وَيُزَكّيهِم وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الكِتابَ وَالحِكمَةَ وَإِن كانوا مِن قَبلُ لَفي ضَلالٍ مُبينٍ

Ali Unal

He it is Who has sent among the unlettered ones¹ a Messenger of their own, reciting to them His Revelations, and purifying them (of false beliefs and doctrines, and sins, and all kinds of uncleanness), and instructing them in the Book and the Wisdom, whereas before that they were indeed lost in obvious error.

The Jews are a people to whom the Divine Book (the Torah) was given. Most of them knew how to read and write during the Prophet’s time. But as will be pointed out in verse 5 below, although they were instructed in the Torah, they acted as if they were unaware of the value of what they had been entrusted with, just as a donkey laden with books does not understand the value of its load. On the other hand, the Arabs, who were unlettered in the sense that they had not been given the Book, or that most of them did not know how to read and write, greatly appreciated the Book sent to them through the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and made it the guide for their lives.