Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The exposition of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: أَلا إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأَرْضِ وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلا الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلا يَخْرُصُونَ (Know: to Allah belongs whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on the earth; and those who call upon, besides Allah, other beings as associates follow nothing. They follow only conjecture, and they only lie.) (66)

   Abū Jaʿfar says: the Exalted says here: Know indeed, O Muḥammad, that to Allah belongs everyone who is in the heavens and everyone who is on the earth — as possession and as servants. There is no owner over any thing thereof besides Him. He says: how then can that which these polytheists (mushrikīn) venerate — namely the idols and images — be a god and a worshipped lord, while they are the property of Allah? For indeed, worship is due to the owner, not to the owned; to the Lord, not to the sustained.

   وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ (And those who call upon, besides Allah, other beings as associates follow nothing.) The Exalted — blessed and exalted is His praise — says: what do those who call upon others besides Allah follow — that is to say: others than Allah and His equals — as associates? The meaning of the saying is: what do those who claim that Allah has associates in His dominion and His possession — while they lie therein — follow in that case, while Allah alone has the possession over all things, whether in the heaven or on the earth?

   إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلا الظَّنَّ (They follow only conjecture.) He says: in that which they say and in that claim which they make, they follow nothing other than conjecture — that is to say: nothing other than doubt, not certainty. (54)

   وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلا يَخْرُصُونَ (And they only lie.) He says: they say nothing but lies, on the basis of conjecture and guesswork in the service of the lie, (55) without possessing any knowledge of what they claim.

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   Footnotes:

   (54) See the interpretation of "al-ẓann" (conjecture) in the earlier registers of the linguistic indices (ẓ-n-n).

   (55) In the printed edition it reads: "taẓannunan"; in the manuscript stands that which has been established — with diacritical marks, despite the scant vocalization therein.

   "Al-taẓannī" is the same as "al-taẓannun"; the final nūn has been changed into a yāʾ on account of the accumulation of nūn letters and the heaviness of their succession. This is a frequent and widespread phenomenon in the Arabic of the Arabs.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : أَلا إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَنْ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَنْ فِي الأَرْضِ وَمَا يَتَّبِعُ الَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ إِنْ يَتَّبِعُونَ إِلا الظَّنَّ وَإِنْ هُمْ إِلا يَخْرُصُونَ (66) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: ألا إن لله يا محمد كلَّ من في السموات ومن في الأرض ، ملكًا وعبيدًا ، لا مالك لشيء من ذلك سواه. يقول: فكيف يكون إلهًا معبودًا من يعبُده هؤلاء المشركون من الأوثان والأصنام، وهي لله ملك، وإنما العبادة للمالك دون المملوك، وللرب دون المربوب؟ ، (وما يتبع الذين يدعون من دون الله شركاء)، يقول جل ثناؤه: وأيُّ شيء يتبع من يدعو من دون الله ، يعني: غير الله وسواه ، شركاء. ومعنى الكلام: أيُّ شيءٍ يتبع من يقول لله شركاء في سلطانه وملكه كاذبًا، والله المنفرد بملك كل شيء في سماء كان أو أرض؟ ، (إن يتبعون إلا الظن) ، يقول: ما يتبعون في قيلهم ذلك ودعواهم إلا الظن، يقول: إلا الشك لا اليقين (54) ، (وإن هم إلا يخرصون) ، يقول: وإن هم إلا يتقوّلون الباطل تظنِّيًا وتَخَرُّصا للإفك ، (55) عن غير علمٍ منهم بما يقولون. -------------------------- الهوامش : (54) انظر تفسير " الظن " فيما سلف من فهارس اللغة ( ظنن ) . (55) في المطبوعة : " تظننا " وأثبت ما في المخطوطة معجما ، على قلة إعجام الحروف فيها . " والتظني " ، هو " التظنن " ، وإنما قلبت نونه الآخرة ياء لتوالي النونات وثقل تواليها ، وهو كثير فاش في كلام العرب .