And when He, glorified and exalted is He, mentioned this group, which is among the highest in disbelief and the most obstinate in their affairs, He followed it with a category that is more obstinate and more severe than it. This is because the scholar is hoped to be diverted from his opinion or to be embarrassed by argument, unlike the stubborn, thick-headed, and harsh imitator. He said, "And among them are unlettered ones." It is permissible that by this He means those who cannot write and those who can write but are coarse in nature and far from understanding. This is because an unlettered person in the language is one who does not write or one who, by nature, has not learned to write and remains in his original state and condition of birth, and the foolish, rough, harsh, and few-spoken. The meaning is that they are of two categories: writers and non-writers. These are the ones intended by the unlettered ones. And these, despite not being able to write, may learn to read through rote but do not understand the meanings. It is also possible that the meaning is that they are of two categories: knowledgeable scholars who are aware of the meanings, and ignorant fools who have no share of the Torah except for reading that is devoid of contemplation and is coupled with wishful thinking. That is why He said, "They do not know the Book," meaning contrary to the category that He confirmed as being among the people of knowledge.

And when the intent was to negate knowledge from them entirely, He highlighted the exception while it appeared to be connected in form. He said, "Except for wishful thinking," the plural of wish, which is the estimation of the occurrence of what hope extends to. It is said that its meaning runs in the recitation for the wording as if it is an estimation in addition to the one for whom the meaning is realized - as stated by al-Harali. That is, if the wishful thinking is among what can be described as knowledge, then it is for them and not for anything else from all its types. And when it became clear that the estimation is: they only estimate estimations of which they have no knowledge; He followed it with His saying, "And they are only assuming," emphasizing the negation of knowledge from them.