Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The discourse on the explanation of the words of Allah the Exalted: قُلِ انْظُرُوا مَاذَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَا تُغْنِي الآيَاتُ وَالنُّذُرُ عَنْ قَوْمٍ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ (Say: Behold what is in the heavens and the earth. But of no avail are the signs and the warners to a people who do not believe) (101)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah the Exalted — exalted be His remembrance — says: Say, O Muḥammad, to these polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people, who ask you for signs as proof of the truth of that to which you call them — namely the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) and the renouncing of equals and idols: Behold, O people, what is in the heavens of signs that demonstrate the truth of that to which I call you — namely the oneness of Allah (tawḥīd) — such as the sun and the moon among them, the alternation of night and day, the descent of rain from its clouds as provision for the servants, and what is on the earth of mountains, its bursting forth with vegetation, the provisions of sustenance for its inhabitants, and all the various kinds of its marvels. For in that there is for you — if you use your reason and reflect upon it — an admonition and a lesson, and a proof that this is the work of One for Whom it is not permissible that there be in His sovereignty any partner, nor that there be in its governance and preservation any helper Who would make you independent of other signs.

   Allah — great be His praise — says: وَمَا تُغْنِي الآيَاتُ وَالنُّذُرُ عَنْ قَوْمٍ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ (But of no avail are the signs and the warners to a people who do not believe). Allah — great be His praise — says: And what avail are the proofs, the lessons, and the messengers who warn the servants of the punishment of Allah (19), to a people for whom wretchedness has already been decreed by Allah, and for whom it has been inscribed in the Mother of the Book that they are among the inhabitants of the Fire (al-nār)? They believe in none of all that and do not acknowledge it. وَلَوْ جَاءَتْهُمْ كُلُّ آيَةٍ حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ (Even if every sign were to come to them, until they behold the painful punishment.) (20)

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   Notes:

   (19) See the explanation of "aghnaʾ" as previously expounded, p. 89, note 2, and the references mentioned there.

   (20) See the explanation of "al-nadhīr" as previously expounded, 10: 85.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : قُلِ انْظُرُوا مَاذَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ وَمَا تُغْنِي الآيَاتُ وَالنُّذُرُ عَنْ قَوْمٍ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ (101) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: قل، يا محمد ، لهؤلاء المشركين من قومك، السائليك الآياتِ على صحّة ما تدعوهم إليه من توحيد الله وخلع الأنداد والأوثان: انظروا ، أيها القوم ، ماذا في السمواتِ من الآيات الدّالة على حقيقة ما أدعوكم إليه من توحيد الله ، من شمسها وقمرها، واختلافِ ليلها ونهارِها، ونـزول الغيث بأرزاق العبادِ من سحابها ، وفي الأرض من جبالها ، وتصدُّعها بنباتها، وأقوات أهلها، وسائر صنوف عجائبها، فإن في ذلك لكم إن عقلتم وتدبَّرتم موعظة ومعتبرًا، ودلالةً على أن ذلك من فعل من لا يجوز أن يكون له في ملكه شريك ، ولا له على تدبيره وحفظه ظهير يُغْنيكم عما سواه من الآيات. يقول الله جل ثناؤه: (وما تُغني الآيات والنذر عن قوم لا يؤمنون ) ، يقول جل ثناؤه: وما تغني الحجج والعبر والرسل المنذرة عبادة الله عقابه ، (19) عن قوم قد سبق لهم من الله الشقاء ، وقضى لهم في أم الكتاب أنهم من أهل النار ، لا يؤمنون بشيء من ذلك ولا يصدِّقون به. وَلَوْ جَاءَتْهُمْ كُلُّ آيَةٍ حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الأَلِيمَ ؟ (20) ------------------- الهوامش : (19) انظر تفسير " أغنى " فيما سلف ص : 89 ، تعليق : 2 ، والمراجع هناك . (20) انظر تفسير " النذير " فيما سلف 10 : 85 .