Taberî reports that the expression 'ummiyyûn' describes a group of Jews who were illiterate and did not know the contents of the Torah; he notes that these people were unaware of the rulings in the book in their possession and spoke only with baseless claims and fantasies (wishes) that came from their own mouths. According to a view transmitted from Ibn Abbas, these people did not believe in any prophet or book, and they wrote a book with their own hands and told ignorant people that it came from Allah. Taberî interprets the word 'tamnî' here as meaning 'to fabricate lies, to say something without basis,' and prefers this as the most correct view.

إن الأميين الذين وصفهم الله بما وصفهم به في هذه الآية أنهم لا يفقهون من الكتاب الذي أنزله الله على موسى شيئا، ولكنهم يتخرصون الكذب ويتقولون الأباطيل كذبا وزورا. والتمني في هذا الموضع، هو تخلق الكذب وتخرصه وافتعاله

According to this text, Râzî explains the word 'ummî' as someone who does not know writing and reading; because the verse is about the Jews and they knew the Book and the Prophet, but some of them are common people who are illiterate, acting only through imitation and accepting what they heard. The word 'emanî' means either 'reading' or 'a whim from the heart, suspicion'; Râzî shows that both meanings are based on the idea of 'determining,' which is the linguistic root. Furthermore, he states that the verse divides the Jews into four groups: the stubborn, hypocrites, those who argue with hypocrites, and these ignorant commoners, noting that this situation is seen in the Islamic community in exactly the same way.

وقال آخرون : من لا يحسن الكتابة والقراءة وهذا الثاني أصوب لأن الآية في اليهود وكانوا مقرين بالكتاب والرسول ولأنه عليه الصلاة والسلام قال : ( نحن أمة أمية لا نكتب ولا نحسب ) وذلك يدل على هذا القول

Kurtubî notes that the polytheists speak only based on suspicion and that the polytheists are divided into various groups; some accept the Creator (Sâni') but deny resurrection (bâs'), while some are in doubt. He also states that in Islam there have emerged some communities that cannot openly deny resurrection but resort to reinterpretation, interpreting the Day of Judgment as the death of the body, and viewing reward and punishment as illusions belonging to souls, noting that their harm is more dangerous than that of outright disbelievers because they conceal the truth and are deceptive in appearance. The text also linguistically explains that the word 'ella' means 'but' and is a disconnected exception, and that the expression 'innehum' means they lied.

وحدث في الإسلام أقوام ليس يمكنهم إنكار البعث خوفا من المسلمين فيتأولون ويرون القيامة موت البدن ويرون الثواب والعقاب إلى خيالات تقع للأرواح بزعمهم فشر هؤلاء أضر من شر جميع الكفار لأن هؤلاء يلبسون على الحق ويغتر بتلبيسهم الظاهر

According to Beydâvî, the 'ummîs' in the verse are illiterate people who cannot read the Torah directly and verify its contents; all they know is fantasies, baseless claims, or superficial readings that they take through imitation from those who distorted it, without thinking about the meaning. In verse 79, a severe threat (weil) is directed at those who write the book with their own hands and sell it as if it came from Allah, and gain worldly profit (bribes) from it; this threat is repeated both for what they wrote and what they earned.

والمعنى لكن يعتقدون أكاذيب أخذوها تقليدا من المحرفين أو مواعيد فارغة. سمعوها منهم من أن الجنة لا يدخلها إلا من كان هودا، وأن النار لن تمسهم إلا أياما معدودة.

Ibn Kesîr conveys different views in the interpretation of the words 'ummî' and 'tamnî': according to some exegetes, this expression describes those who are not people of the book, do not know Allah's book, and speak only based on suspicion and fantasy; according to others, it describes those who fabricate lies and attribute them to Allah. According to Ibn Jerîr's preference, the most correct view is that this means speaking lies; 'ummî' means, according to common usage in the Arabic language, someone who does not know writing.

وذلك أن الأمي عند العرب الذي لا يكتب