Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: the command of Allah (amr Allah) has come and has thus drawn near to you, O people, and it has come close; do not, therefore, desire that it be hastened.

   Then the masters of exegesis differed concerning what that command is whose coming and drawing near Allah made known to His servants, and what matter it is. Some of them said: it is His obligations (farāʾiḍ) and His ordinances (aḥkām).

   * Mention of who said that:

   Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning His word أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ("The command of Allah has come, do not therefore desire that it be hastened"), that he said: it is the ordinances (aḥkām), the prescribed punishments (ḥudūd), and the obligations (farāʾiḍ).

   And others said: no, rather it is a threat (waʿīd) from Allah to the people who ascribe partners to Him; He informed them that the Hour has drawn near and that the appointed term of their punishment (ʿadhāb) has arrived and has come close.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, who said: when this verse was sent down — he means أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ("The command of Allah has come, do not therefore desire that it be hastened") — some men of the hypocrites (munāfiqūn) said to one another: this man claims that the command of Allah has come; restrain yourselves, therefore, from a part of what you used to do, until you see what happens. But when they saw that nothing came down, they said: we do not see that anything has come down. Then there was sent down اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مُعْرِضُونَ ("The reckoning of the people has drawn near, while they in heedlessness turn away"). Then they said: this man claims something of the like again. But when they saw that nothing came down, they said: we do not see that anything has come down. Then there was sent down وَلَئِنْ أَخَّرْنَا عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابَ إِلَى أُمَّةٍ مَعْدُودَةٍ لَيَقُولُنَّ مَا يَحْبِسُهُ أَلا يَوْمَ يَأْتِيهِمْ لَيْسَ مَصْرُوفًا عَنْهُمْ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ ("And if We defer the punishment from them to a numbered term, they will surely say: what holds it back? Truly, on the day it comes to them, it shall not be turned away from them, and that which they used to mock will encompass them").

   Abū Hishām al-Rifāʿī related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yamān related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Bakr ibn Ḥafṣ, who said: when أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ ("The command of Allah has come") was sent down, they raised their heads, whereupon فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ("do not therefore desire that it be hastened") was sent down.

   Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Abū Bakr ibn Shuʿayb related to us, saying: I heard Abū Ṣādiq recite يا عِبادِي أتَى أمْرُ اللَّهِ فلا تستعجلوه ("O My servants, the command of Allah has come, do not therefore desire that it be hastened").

   And the more correct of the two statements concerning this, in my judgment, is the statement of the one who said: it is a threat from Allah to the people who disbelieve in Him and in His Messenger, and an announcement from Him to them that the punishment (ʿadhāb) and the destruction are near to them. That is so because He followed this with His word, glorified and exalted is He: عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ("exalted above that which they ascribe as partners"), and by it He pointed to His reviling of the polytheists (mushrikīn) and His threat to them. Moreover, it has not reached us that even a single one of the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ desired that the obligations be hastened before they were imposed upon them, such that, for that reason, it would be said to them: the obligations of Allah have come to you, do not therefore desire that they be hastened. As for the polytheists who desired that the punishment be hastened — those were many.

   And His word, glorified and exalted is He: عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ("exalted above that which they ascribe as partners"), by it the Exalted says it as a token of the exalting and declaring pure of Allah above the ascribing of partners (shirk) to which the Quraysh and whoever of the Arabs was in the same state as they obediently submitted.

   And the reciters differed concerning the reading of His word, the Exalted: عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ("exalted above that which they ascribe as partners"). The people of Medina and a portion of the Basran and Kufan reciters read it as عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ("yushrikūn", "that which they ascribe as partners") with the yāʾ, as a report about the people who disbelieve in Allah, while the address concerning the desiring of haste is directed to the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; and likewise they read the second with the yāʾ. And the generality of the reciters of Kufa read it with the tāʾ, whereby the address with His word فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ("do not therefore desire that it be hastened") is directed to the companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the address with His word, the Exalted, "ʿammā tushrikūn" ("that which you ascribe as partners") is directed to the polytheists. And the reading with the tāʾ in both words together, in the form of an address to the polytheists, is the most correct, on account of the explanation I have clarified, namely that it is only a threat from Allah to the polytheists: He began the opening of the verse with the threat to them, and concluded its end with the censure of their deed and the representing of their disbelief (kufr) as outrageously great, in the form of an address to them.

   Show original Arabic

   يقول تعالى ذكره: أتى أمر الله فقرُب منكم أيها الناس ودنا، فلا تستعجلوا وقوعه. ثم اختلف أهل التأويل في الأمر الذي أعلم الله عباده مجيئه وقُربه منهم ما هو، وأيّ شيء هو؟ فقال بعضهم: هو فرائضه وأحكامه. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا ابن حميد، قال: ثنا ابن المبارك، عن جويبر، عن الضحاك، في قوله ( أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ) قال: الأحكام والحدود والفرائض. وقال آخرون: بل ذلك وعيد من الله لأهل الشرك به، أخبرهم أن الساعة قد قَرُبت وأن عذابهم قد حضر أجله فدنا. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا القاسم، قال: ثني حجاج، عن ابن جريج، قال: لما نـزلت هذه الآية، يعني ( أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ) قال رجال من المنافقين بعضهم لبعض: إن هذا يزعم أن أمر الله أتى، فأمسِكوا عن بعض ما كنتم تعملون حتى تنظروا ما هو كائن ، فلما رأوا أنه لا ينـزل شيء، قالوا: ما نراه نـزل شيء فنـزلت اقْتَرَبَ لِلنَّاسِ حِسَابُهُمْ وَهُمْ فِي غَفْلَةٍ مُعْرِضُونَ فقالوا: إن هذا يزعم مثلها أيضا ، فلما رأوا أنه لا ينـزل شيء، قالوا: ما نراه نـزل شيء فنـزلت وَلَئِنْ أَخَّرْنَا عَنْهُمُ الْعَذَابَ إِلَى أُمَّةٍ مَعْدُودَةٍ لَيَقُولُنَّ مَا يَحْبِسُهُ أَلا يَوْمَ يَأْتِيهِمْ لَيْسَ مَصْرُوفًا عَنْهُمْ وَحَاقَ بِهِمْ مَا كَانُوا بِهِ يَسْتَهْزِئُونَ . حدثنا أبو هشام الرفاعي، قال: ثنا يحيى بن يمان، قال: ثنا سفيان، عن إسماعيل، عن أبي بكر بن حفص، قال: لما نـزلت ( أَتَى أَمْرُ اللَّهِ ) رفعوا رءوسهم، فنـزلت ( فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ) . حدثنا ابن حميد، قال: ثنا يحيى بن واضح، قال: ثنا أبو بكر بن شعيب، قال: سمعت أبا صادق يقرأ (يا عِبادِي أتّى أمْرُ اللَّهِ فلا تستعجلوه) . وأولى القولين في ذلك عندي بالصواب، قول من قال: هو تهديد من الله أهل الكفر به وبرسوله، وإعلام منه لهم قرب العذاب منهم والهلاك وذلك أنه عقَّب ذلك بقوله سبحانه وتعالى ( عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ) فدلّ بذلك على تقريعه المشركين ووعيده لهم. وبعد، فإنه لم يبلغنا أن أحدا من أصحاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم استعجل فرائض قبل أن تُفرض عليهم فيقال لهم من أجل ذلك: قد جاءتكم فرائض الله فلا تستعجلوها. وأما مستعجلو العذاب من المشركين، فقد كانوا كثيرا. وقوله سبحانه وتعالى ( عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ) يقول تعالى تنـزيها لله وعلوّا له عن الشرك الذي كانت قريش ومن كان من العرب على مثل ما هم عليه يَدِين به. واختلفت القراء في قراءة قوله تعالى ( عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ) فقرأ ذلك أهل المدينة وبعض البصريين والكوفيين ( عَمَّا يُشْرِكُونَ ) بالياء على الخبر عن أهل الكفر بالله وتوجيه للخطاب بالاستعجال إلى أصحاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وكذلك قرءوا الثانية بالياء . وقرأ ذلك عامَّة قرّاء الكوفة بالتاء على توجيه الخطاب بقوله ( فَلا تَسْتَعْجِلُوهُ ) إلى أصحاب رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم، وبقوله تعالى " عما يشركون " إلى المشركين ، والقراءة بالتاء في الحرفين جميعا على وجه الخطاب للمشركين أولى بالصواب لما بيَّنت من التأويل ، أن ذلك إنما هو وعيد من الله للمشركين ، ابتدأ أوّل الآية بتهديدهم ، وختم آخرها بنكير فعلهم واستعظام كفرهم على وجه الخطاب لهم.