Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The ruling on the explanation of the word of Allah the Exalted: وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَيْكَ أَفَأَنْتَ تَهْدِي الْعُمْيَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا لا يُبْصِرُونَ (And among them are those who look at you — but can you then guide the blind, even though they do not see?) (43)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah — exalted be His mention — says: And among these polytheists (mushrikīn), the polytheists of your people, are those who look at you, O Muḥammad, and who behold your signs and the proofs of your prophethood — but Allah has withheld from them the divine enabling grace (tawfīq), so that they are not guided and you cannot guide them, just as you are not able to create sight in a blind person by which he would find his way. أَفَأَنْتَ تَهْدِي الْعُمْيَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا لا يُبْصِرُونَ (But can you then guide the blind, even though they do not see?) — that is to say: Can you, O Muḥammad, create sight in those who look at you and at your proofs and arguments, and who nevertheless are not favored with the affirmation of your prophethood — sight by which, if they were blind, they would be guided and would be able to see? For just as you are not able to do that, and just as no one else is capable of it, and just as no one besides Me has the power over it — so too you are not able to show them the way of the straight path, nor is anyone other than Me able to do so, for that rests with Me and belongs to Me.

   This is from Allah — exalted be His mention — a consolation (tasliya) for His Prophet ﷺ on account of the group of those from his people who have rejected him and turned away from him and denied him, an encouragement for him in the face of them, and a command to let go of his longing for their return to belief in Allah.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَمِنْهُمْ مَنْ يَنْظُرُ إِلَيْكَ أَفَأَنْتَ تَهْدِي الْعُمْيَ وَلَوْ كَانُوا لا يُبْصِرُونَ (43) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: ومن هؤلاء المشركين، مشركي قومِك، من ينظر إليك ، يا محمد، ويرى أعلامك وحُججَك على نبوتك، ولكن الله قد سلبه التوفيقَ فلا يهتدي، ولا تقدر أن تهديه، كما لا تقدر أن تحدِث للأعمى بصرًا يهتدي به ، (أفأنت تهدي العمي ولو كانوا لا يبصرون)، يقول: أفأنت يا محمد ، تحدث لهؤلاء الذين ينظرون إليك وإلى أدلتك وحججك ، فلا يوفَّقون للتصديق بك أبصارًا ، لو كانوا عُمْيًا يهتدون بها ويبصرون؟ فكما أنك لا تطيق ذلك ولا تقدر عليه ولا غيرك، ولا يقدر عليه أحدٌ سواي، فكذلك لا تقدر على أن تبصِّرهم سبيلَ الرشاد أنت ولا أحدٌ غيري، لأن ذلك بيدي وإليّ. وهذا من الله تعالى ذكره تسليةٌ لنبيه صلى الله عليه وسلم عن جماعةٍ ممن كفر به من قومه وأدبر عنه فكذب، وتعزية له عنهم، وأمرٌ برفع طمعه من إنابتهم إلى الإيمان بالله. * * *