Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The discourse on the explanation of His statement: الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ("The Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate").

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The exposition of the explanation of His statement (الرحمن الرحيم — "The Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate") has already been given earlier, in the explanation of بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ("In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate"). With that, it is superfluous to repeat it in this place.

   Nor did we have any need to set forth why it is repeated in this place, since we are of the opinion that بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ("In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate") is not a verse of the opening sūra (al-Fātiḥa). Otherwise a question would arise for a questioner, namely that he would say: "What is the reason for repeating it in this place, when Allah, mighty and exalted is He, has already described Himself thereby in His statement بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ, despite the closeness of the position of the one verse to the other and the fact that they are adjacent to each other?" Rather, this is for us a proof of the incorrectness of the claim of whoever claims that بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ is a verse of the opening sūra. For if that were so, then this would be a repetition of a verse with one and the same meaning and one and the same wording, twice, without any separation distinguishing the two from each other. And nowhere in the Book of Allah are there to be found two adjacent, repeated verses with one wording and one meaning, without there being between the two a separation of words whose meaning differs from theirs. A verse is repeated in its entirety within a single sūra only when there are separations that distinguish it, and words intervene that diverge from the meaning of the repeated verses or from their wordings. But there is no separation between the statement of Allah, blessed and exalted is His name, "the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate" (الرحمن الرحيم) from بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ, and the statement of Allah "the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate" (الرحمن الرحيم) from الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ("All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds").

   If someone says: But الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ("All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds") is indeed a separation between them —

   then it is answered: A number of exegetes denied that, and they said: That belongs to the postposed whose meaning is preposed. It is in reality: "All praise is due to Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate, the Lord of the worlds, the King of the Day of Judgment." They adduced as proof of the correctness of what they claimed about that His statement: "King of the Day of Judgment" (مَلِك يوم الدين). They said: His statement "King of the Day of Judgment" (ملِكِ يوم الدين) is an instruction from Allah to His servant, so that the latter may describe Him with kingship (al-mulk) — according to the reading of whoever reads "Malik" (مَلِك, King) — and with ownership (al-milk) — according to the reading of whoever reads "Mālik" (مَالِكِ, Owner). They said: That which is most fitting to be adjacent to His description with kingship or ownership is what is like it in description; and that is His statement رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ("Lord of the worlds"), which is a notification about His ownership of all kinds of creation. And that which is most fitting to be adjacent to His description with grandeur and divinity is what is like it in meaning from the praise of Him, and that is His statement (الرحمن الرحيم — "the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate").

   They claimed that this is an indication for them that His statement "the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate" (الرحمن الرحيم) has the meaning of being preposed, before رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ("Lord of the worlds"), even though outwardly it stands postposed. They said: The examples of this — of the preposed which has the meaning of being postposed, and the postposed which has the meaning of being preposed — are in the language of the Arabs more widespread, and occur more frequently in their speech, than they can be counted. Among them is the statement of Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyya:

   "The apparition visited me — and where is it removed from you? — only fleetingly; so return to your visitor with the greeting, a greeting." (78)

   the meaning of which is: "The apparition visited me only fleetingly, and where is it from you?" And as the Exalted, praise be to Him, said in His Book: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنْزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ عِوَجَا * قَيِّمًا ("All praise is due to Allah, Who has sent down the Book upon His servant and has not placed therein any crookedness * upright") [Sūra al-Kahf: 1], the meaning of which is: "All praise is due to Allah, Who has sent down the Book upon His servant, upright, and has not placed therein any crookedness," and what resembles that. Therein lies a witnessing proof of the correctness of the statement of whoever denies that بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ is a verse of the opening sūra (al-Fātiḥa).

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   Footnotes:

   (77) In the printed edition it reads: "a separation between that" (fāṣil bayna dhālik); what is in the manuscript is correct Arabic.

   (78) His Dīwān: 541, and al-Naqāʾiḍ: 38. "Ṭāfa al-khayāl": the [apparition] visited you in the night. "Al-limām": the slight meeting. "Al-zawr": the visitor; one says it for the singular, the dual, and the plural: zawr. "Fa-rjiʿ li-zawrika" — he says: answer the greeting as he greeted you.

   (79) In the printed edition it reads: "the meaning is: All praise is due to Allah...".

   (80) Thus Abū Jaʿfar, may Allah have mercy on him, is of the opinion that "Bismi-llāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm" is not a verse of the Fātiḥa, and he adduced for his position what you have seen. This is not the place to set forth the disagreement about this, nor to demonstrate what is the contrary of what Ibn Jarīr said. I have treated this question precisely and adduced the correct proofs — according to my view and my juristic understanding — that it is indeed a verse of the Fātiḥa, in my commentary on the Sunan of al-Tirmidhī 2: 16–25. And the reference to it suffices here. Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ . قال أبو جعفر: قد مضى البيانُ عن تأويل قوله (الرحمن الرحيم)، في تأويل بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ، فأغنى ذلك عن إعادته في هذا الموضع. ولم نَحْتَجْ إلى الإبانة عن وجه تكرير ذلك في هذا الموضع، إذْ كنا لا نرى أن بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ من فاتحة الكتاب - آيةٌ، فيكونَ علينا لسائلٍ مسألةٌ بأن يقول: ما وجه تكرير ذلك في هذا الموضع، وقد مضى وصفُ الله عزّ وجلّ به نفسه في قوله بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ مع قرب مكان إحدى الآيتين من الأخرى، ومجاورتها صَاحِبتها؟ بل ذلك لنا حُجة على خطأ دعوى من ادَّعى أن بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ من فاتحة الكتاب آية. إذ لو كان ذلك كذلك، لكان ذلك إعادةَ آية بمعنى واحد ولفظ واحدٍ مرتين من غير فَصْل يَفصِل بينهما. وغيرُ موجودٍ في شيء من كتاب الله آيتان مُتجاورتان مكرّرتان بلفظ واحد ومعنى واحد، لا فصلَ بينهما من كلام يُخالف معناه معناهما. وإنما يُؤتى بتكرير آية بكمالها في السورة الواحدة، مع فُصولٍ تفصِل بين ذلك، وكلامٍ يُعترضُ به معنى الآيات المكررات أو غير ألفاظها، ولا فاصِلَ بين قول الله تبارك وتعالى اسمه " الرحمن الرحيم " من بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ ، وقولِ الله: " الرحمن الرحيم "، من الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ . فإن قال : فإن الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ فاصل من ذلك. (77) قيل: قد أنكر ذلك جماعة من أهل التأويل، وقالوا: إن ذلك من المؤخَّر الذي معناه التقديم، وإنما هو: الحمد لله الرحمن الرحيم رَبّ العالمين مَلِك يوم الدين. واستشهدوا على صحة ما ادعوا من ذلك بقوله: " مَلِك يوم الدين " ، فقالوا : إن قوله " ملِكِ يوم الدين " تعليم من الله عبدَه أنْ يصفَه بالمُلْك في قراءة من قرأ ملِك ، وبالمِلْك في قراءة من قرأ مَالِكِ . قالوا: فالذي هو أولى أن يكونَ مجاورَ وصفه بالمُلْك أو المِلْك، ما كان نظيرَ ذلك من الوصف؛ وذلك هو قوله: رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ، الذي هو خبر عن مِلْكه جميع أجناس الخلق؛ وأن يكون مجاورَ وصفه بالعظمة والألُوهة ما كان له نظيرًا في المعنى من الثناء عليه، وذلك قوله: (الرحمن الرحيم). فزعموا أنّ ذلك لهم دليلٌ على أن قوله " الرحمن الرحيم " بمعنى التقديم قبل رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ ، وإن كان في الظاهر مؤخرًا. وقالوا : نظائرُ ذلك - من التقديم الذي هو بمعنى التأخير، والمؤخَّر الذي هو بمعنى التقديم - في كلام العرب أفشى، وفي منطقها أكثر، من أن يُحصى. من ذلك قول جرير بن عطية: طَـافَ الخَيَـالُ - وأَيْـنَ مِنْكَ? - لِمَامَا فَــارْجِعْ لــزَوْرِكَ بالسَّـلام سَـلاما (78) بمعنى طاف الخيال لمامًا، وأين هو منك؟ وكما قال جل ثناؤه في كتابه: الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ الَّذِي أَنْـزَلَ عَلَى عَبْدِهِ الْكِتَابَ وَلَمْ يَجْعَلْ لَهُ عِوَجَا * قَيِّمًا [سورة الكهف: 1] بمعنى (79) : الحمدُ لله الذي أنـزل على عبده الكتاب قيِّمًا ولم يجعل له عوجًا، وما أشبه ذلك. ففي ذلك دليل شاهدٌ على صحة قول من أنكر أن تكون - بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ من فاتحة الكتاب - آيةً (80) --------- الهوامش : (77) في المطبوعة : "فاصل بين ذلك" ، والذي في المخطوطة عربية جيدة . (78) ديوانه : 541 ، والنقائض : 38 . طاف الخيال : ألم بك في الليل ، واللمام : اللقاء اليسير . والزور : الزائر ، يقال للواحد والمثنى والجمع : زور . "فارجع لزورك" ، يقول : رد عليه السلام كما سلم عليك . (79) في المطبوعة : "المعنى : الحمد لله . . . " (80) وهكذا ذهب أبو جعفر رحمه الله إلى أن "بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم" ليست آية من الفاتحة ، واحتج لقوله بما ترى . وليس هذا موضع بسط الخلاف فيه ، والدلالة على خلاف ما قال ابن جرير . وقد حققت هذه المسألة ، أقمت الدلائل الصحاح -في نظري وفقهي- على أنها آية من الفاتحة - : في شرحي لسنن الترمذي 2 : 16 - 25 . وفي الإشارة إليه غنية هنا . أحمد محمد شاكر .