Assalamualikum
Peace and blessing for all
Let’s see first the meaning of the word unlettered
Not adept at reading and writing; deficient in the knowledge that can be acquired from books.
The adjective unlettered has 2 meanings:
Meaning #1: having little acquaintance with writing (notice the word little)
Meaning #2: lacking general education or knowledge
http://www.answers.com/unlettered&r=67
Unlettered does not mean that one is not able scribble few sentences or read few words
Or is a complete dumb person.
Masha Allah the prophet was very intelligent but he did not have any formal education
Also you must know difference between the holy Quran and Hadiths
The holy Quran is 100% error free, where as many hadiths were rejected because they were found to be unreliable
also any hadith that goes against the holy Quran needs to be rejected and the holy Quran does say the prophet was unlettered
I’m not saying that this hadith is not authentic
Many times same incidence is reported differently by different narrators
Now let’s analyze the hadith you quote
1 “When the document of treaty was written, the following was mentioned”
The document was already written and it does not say that prophet wrote it
2 " Then he said to 'Ali, "
Rub off (the words) 'Allah's Apostle' "
“but 'Ali said, "No, by Allah, I will never
rub off your name."
All the terms were already written, only objection was to the words ‘
Allah’s Apostle'
There was no need to write any thing only to rub out or cross out the words
‘Allah’s Apostle'
Now it is quite possible the narrator did not see the prophet actually write he may be standing away from him at that time and the holy prophet may have just rubbed out or crossed out the words simply because there was no need to write anything but to the narrator it must have looked like the prophet was writing something.
The evidence that you stated is very poor, out of thousands of hadiths you could only quote one, that to could be explained easily
Surely if the prophet(s) was well read and educated there must be some incidence reported which definitely indicate it?
Also you have failed to quote or may be deliberately choose to ignore the hadith just before it.
The hadiths is
Volume 3, Book 49, Number
862
Narrated Al-Bara bin 'Azib:
When Allah's Apostle concluded a peace treaty with the people of Hudaibiya,
Ali bin Abu Talib wrote the document and he mentioned in it, "Muhammad, Allah's Apostle ." The pagans said, "Don't write: 'Muhammad, Allah's Apostle', for if you were an apostle we would not fight with you." Allah's Apostle asked Ali to
rub it out, but Ali said, "I will not be the person to
rub it out."
Allah's Apostle rubbed it out and made peace with them on the condition that the Prophet and his companions would enter Mecca and stay there for three days, and that they would enter with their weapons in cases.
http://tinyurl.com/4b2c9q
Rubbed out!
Rubbed out!
Rubbed out!