Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The commentary on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: مَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَلا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَنْ يُنـزلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ (Those who disbelieve, neither among the People of the Book nor the polytheists (mushrikīn), do not wish that any good be sent down to you from your Lord).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: By His statement (mā yawaddu — "they do not wish") is meant: they do not love, that is to say: many among the People of the Book do not love it. Of this one says: "A certain person wished such and such (wadda fulān kadhā), he wishes it (yawadduhu), wishing (waddan, wuddan, and mawaddatan)."

   * * *

   As for "the polytheists (al-mushrikīn)" — this is in the case of the genitive (khafḍ) by conjunction (ʿaṭf) upon "the People of the Book." The meaning of the statement is: those who disbelieve among the People of the Book do not love it, and neither do the polytheists, that any good be sent down to you from your Lord.

   * * *

   As for "an" (that) in His statement (an yunazzala — "that there be sent down"), it is in the accusative (naṣb) by His statement (yawaddu — "they wish"). And we have already demonstrated previously in what manner "min" enters into His statement (min khayrin — "any good") and what resembles it among statements that contain a negation (jaḥd) at their beginning; that makes it superfluous to repeat it in this place.

   * * *

   The explanation of the statement is then: those who disbelieve among the People of the Book do not love it, and neither do the polytheists toward Allah among the idol-worshippers, that there be sent down to you any of the good that was with Allah, so that He sent it down to you. Thus the polytheists and the disbelievers among the People of the Book wished that Allah would not send down to them the Criterion (al-Furqān), nor that which He revealed to Muḥammad ﷺ of His wisdom and His signs. The Jews and their followers among the polytheists wished this only out of envy and malice (ḥasadan wa-baghyan) on their part toward the believers.

   In this verse is a clear indication that Allah, blessed and exalted is He, has forbidden the believers to lean upon their enemies among the People of the Book and the polytheists, and to listen to their words, and to accept anything of what they bring them under the guise of well-meaning counsel on their part — by His having informed them, exalted is His praise, of the rancor and the envy that the People of the Book and the polytheists inwardly harbor toward them, even though with their tongues they display the opposite of what they inwardly conceal.

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   The commentary on the explanation of His statement, the Exalted: وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ (And Allah singles out with His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the Possessor of tremendous bounty) (105).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: By His statement, exalted is His praise, (wa-Allāhu yakhtaṣṣu bi-raḥmatihi man yashāʾu — "And Allah singles out with His mercy whom He wills") is meant: And Allah singles out whom He wills with His prophethood and His message, and thus sends him to whom He wills of His creatures, and favors with faith (īmān) whom He loves, and guides him to it. And His "singling out" (ikhtiṣāṣ) of them with that means: the exclusive granting of that to them to the exclusion of the rest of His creatures. Allah has made His message to the one to whom He sent it among His creatures, and His guidance to whom He guided of His servants, only a mercy from Him toward him, so that He might thereby lead him to His good pleasure, His love, and his success thereby in attaining the Garden (janna), and his earning thereby of His praise. And all of this is a mercy from Allah toward him.

   * * *

   As for His statement (wa-Allāhu dhū al-faḍl al-ʿaẓīm — "and Allah is the Possessor of tremendous bounty"): this is an announcement from Allah, exalted is His praise, that every good that reaches His servants in their religion and their worldly life originates from Him as an initiation and as a favor from Him toward them, without their having had any right to it with Him.

   * * *

   And in His statement (wa-Allāhu yakhtaṣṣu bi-raḥmatihi man yashāʾu wa-Allāhu dhū al-faḍl al-ʿaẓīm — "And Allah singles out with His mercy whom He wills, and Allah is the Possessor of tremendous bounty") lies an allusion by Allah, exalted is His mention, to the People of the Book: that the guidance He has given to His prophet Muḥammad ﷺ and to the believers in him is a favor from Him, and that His acts of favor are not obtained by wishing, but rather that they are gifts from Him by which He singles out whom He wills of His creatures.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : مَا يَوَدُّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَلا الْمُشْرِكِينَ أَنْ يُنـزلَ عَلَيْكُمْ مِنْ خَيْرٍ مِنْ رَبِّكُمْ قال أبو جعفر: يعني بقوله: (ما يود)، ما يحب, أي: ليس يحب كثير من أهل الكتاب. يقال منه: " ود فلان كذا يوده ودا وودا ومودة ". * * * وأما " المشركين " (145) فإنهم في موضع خفض بالعطف على " أهل الكتاب ". ومعنى الكلام: ما يحب الذين كفروا من أهل الكتاب ولا المشركين أن ينـزل عليكم من خير من ربكم. * * * وأما(أن) في قوله: (أن ينـزل) فنصب بقوله: (يود). وقد دللنا على وجه دخول " من " في قوله: (من خير) وما أشبه ذلك من الكلام الذي يكون في أوله جحد، فيما مضى, فأغنى ذلك عن إعادته في هذا الموضع. (146) * * * فتأويل الكلام: ما يحب الكافرون من أهل الكتاب ولا المشركين بالله من عبدة الأوثان، أن ينـزل عليكم من الخير الذي كان عند الله فنـزله عليكم. (147) فتمنى المشركون وكفرة أهل الكتاب أن لا ينـزل الله عليهم الفرقان وما أوحاه إلى محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم من حكمه وآياته, وإنما أحبت اليهود وأتباعهم من المشركين ذلك، حسدا وبغيا منهم على المؤمنين. وفي هذه الآية دلالة بينة على أن الله تبارك وتعالى نهى المؤمنين عن الركون إلى أعدائهم من أهل الكتاب والمشركين, والاستماع من قولهم، وقبول شيء مما يأتونهم به على وجه النصيحة لهم منهم، بإطلاعه جل ثناؤه إياهم على ما يستبطنه لهم أهل الكتاب والمشركون من الضغن والحسد، وإن أظهروا بألسنتهم خلاف ما هم مستبطنون. * * * القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَاللَّهُ يَخْتَصُّ بِرَحْمَتِهِ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ ذُو الْفَضْلِ الْعَظِيمِ (105) قال أبو جعفر: يعني بقوله جل ثناؤه: (والله يختص برحمته من يشاء): والله يختص من يشاء بنبوته ورسالته، فيرسله إلى من يشاء من خلقه, فيتفضل بالإيمان على من أحب فيهديه له. و " اختصاصه " إياهم بها، إفرادهم بها دون غيرهم من خلقه. وإنما جعل الله رسالته إلى من أرسل إليه من خلقه، وهدايته من هدى من عباده، رحمة منه له ليصيره بها إلى رضاه ومحبته وفوزه بها بالجنة، واستحقاقه بها ثناءه. وكل ذلك رحمة من الله له. * * * وأما قوله: (والله ذو الفضل العظيم). فإنه خبر من الله جل ثناؤه عن أن كل خير ناله عباده في دينهم ودنياهم، فإنه من عنده ابتداء وتفضلا منه عليهم، من غير استحقاق منهم ذلك عليه. * * * وفي قوله: (والله يختص برحمته من يشاء والله ذو الفضل العظيم)، تعريض من الله تعالى ذكره بأهل الكتاب: أن الذي آتى نبيه محمدا صلى الله عليه وسلم والمؤمنين به من الهداية، تفضل منه, (148) وأن نعمه لا تدرك بالأماني، ولكنها مواهب منه يختص بها من يشاء من خلقه. --------------------------- الهوامش: (145) في المطبوعة : "وأما المشركون" ، والصواب ما أثبت . (146) انظر ما سلف في هذا الجزء 2 : 126 ، 127 ، وكان ينبغي أن يذكره في تفسير الآية : 102 أو يحيل كما أحال هنا . (147) كان في المطبوعة : "الذي كان عند الله ينزله عليهم" ، ولا يستقيم الكلام إلا كما أثبتنا . (148) في المطبوعة : "تفضلا منه" ، وهو خطأ ، بل هذا خبر"أن" .