Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Allah the Exalted says: Your Lord is, after that, Forgiving, Merciful. يَوْمَ تَأْتِي كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ("on the day when every soul comes") — it pleads on its own behalf and advances as its argument what it has sent ahead in the world of good or evil, faith (īmān) or unbelief (kufr). وَتُوَفَّى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ ("and every soul is fully recompensed for what it has done") — in the world, of obedience and disobedience. وَهُمْ لا يُظْلَمُونَ ("and they will not be wronged"): He says: they will be dealt with in no other way than what they deserve and what is incumbent upon them on account of the good or evil they have sent ahead. The doer of good is requited only with goodness, and the doer of evil only with the evil he has committed. The doer of good is not punished, nor is his reward for the good deed diminished, and the doer of evil is not requited except with the recompense of his deed.

   The scholars of the Arabic language (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) differed concerning the reason why "tujādilu" (it pleads) was said and the feminine gender (taʾnīth) was used for everything. Some of the grammarians of Basra said: this was said in this way because the meaning of "kullu nafsin" (every soul) is "kullu insān" (every human being), and the feminine gender (taʾnīth) was used because "al-nafs" (the soul) can be used as both masculine and feminine — one says "mā jāʾanī nafsun wāḥid" (not a single soul/man came to me) and also "wāḥida." Some of the scholars of the Arabic language regarded this position as an error on the part of the one who held it, and said: "kullu," when it is joined to a singular indefinite noun, takes the form of that indefinite noun — "kullu imraʾatin qāʾima" (every woman is standing), "kullu rajulin qāʾim" (every man is standing), "kullu mraʾatayni qāʾimatān" (every two women are standing), "kullu rajulayni qāʾimān" (every two men are standing), "kullu nisāʾin qāʾimāt" (all women are standing), "kullu rijālin qāʾimūn" (all men are standing) — it takes the form of the number, the gender, and the definiteness-gender of the indefinite noun, without there being any need for that to derive from the feminine or masculine character of "al-nafs."

   Show original Arabic

   يقول تعالى ذكره: إن ربك من بعدها لغفور رحيم ( يَوْمَ تَأْتِي كُلُّ نَفْسٍ ) تخاصم عن نفسها، وتحتجّ عنها بما أسلفت في الدنيا من خير أو شرّ أو إيمان أو كفر ، ( وَتُوَفَّى كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا عَمِلَتْ ) في الدنيا من طاعة ومعصية ( وَهُمْ لا يُظْلَمُونَ ) : يقول: وهم لا يفعل بهم إلا ما يستحقونه ويستوجبونه بما قدّموه من خير أو شرّ، فلا يجزى المحسن إلا بالإحسان ولا المسيء إلا بالذي أسلف من الإساءة، لا يعاقب محسن ولا يبخس جزاء إحسانه، ولا يثاب مسيء إلا ثواب عمله. واختلف أهل العربية في السبب الذي من أجله قيل تجادل ، فأنَّث الكلّ، فقال بعض نحويِّي البصرة: قيل ذلك لأن معنى كلّ نفس: كلّ إنسان، وأنث لأن النفس تذكر وتؤنث، يقال: ما جاءني نفس واحد وواحدة. وكان بعض أهل العربية يرى هذا القول من قائله غلطا ويقول: كلّ إذا أضيفت إلى نكرة واحدة خرج الفعل على قدر النكرة ، كلّ امرأة قائمة، وكل رجل قائم، وكل امرأتين قائمتان ، وكل رجلين قائمان، وكل نساء قائمات، وكل رجال قائمون، فيخرج على عدد النكرة وتأنيثها وتذكيرها، ولا حاجة به إلى تأنيث النفس وتذكيرها.