Article 6 : Astronomical calculation and the beginning of the lunar month – Shaykh AbdurRazzaq al Badr
The hadith of Ibn ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet said :
The Prophet (صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم) said, “We are an illiterate nation; we neither write, nor know accounts. […] »
(Sahih Bukhari 1913 / Sahih Muslim 2511)
His saying: « an illiterate nation », that is to say in the majority, at his time, the majority of the people didn’t write and didn’t count, and those who wrote and counted were present but few, and here it refers to the majority. Thus, his saying : « we are an illiterate nation », means that our majority doesn’t write nor read. And among the blessings/benefits of Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَ تَعَالَى) is that He made the acts of worship very clear/easy to comprehend, even for the one who doesn’t write or read, meaning that it is not linked to things that requires reading or writing, but rather it is clear/explicit/precise things.