أُمِّيُّون and أَمَانِىّ
"Among them are unlettered ones who do not know the Book; all they know are wishful fancies. They only conjecture."
أُمِّىّ — root ʾ-m-m (mother). The classical explanation of the word: one who has remained in the state in which he was born of his mother, that is, who has not learned to read and write. Here it means specifically one who does not know the Book.
- Fancy, wish. Root m-n-y: to wish, to hope. That is, a conviction resting not on reality but on wish.
- To read through. One use of the same root also covers voicing a text without understanding it.
Read together, the two senses give a familiar picture: the text is recited but not known; and what fills the gap is what the person wishes were so. Religion is derived not from the text but from wishing.
وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلَّا يَظُنُّونَ — "they only conjecture". This word occurred at verse 46, and there it meant certain knowledge. Here it is the exact reverse: guesswork without ground. That the same word is used in two verses in two opposite senses shows the word's contrary character — and it is always the context that determines which sense is meant.