Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ (116)

   (And they said: "Allah has taken to Himself a child." Glory be to Him! Nay, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth; all are devoutly obedient to Him.) (116)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying — exalted be His praise — (And they said: "Allah has taken to Himself a child") He means those who prevented the mosques of Allah, that His name should be mentioned therein. And the word (and they said) is grammatically connected to His saying وَسَعَى فِي خَرَابِهَا (and strove for their destruction).

   * * *

   The explanation of the verse is thus: And who is more unjust than he who prevented the mosques of Allah, that His name should be mentioned therein, and strove for their destruction, and who said: "Allah has taken to Himself a child" — and they are the Christians who claimed that Jesus is the son of Allah? Then Allah — exalted be His praise — spoke, while declaring their saying which they uttered concerning this to be a lie, and absolving Himself of that which they ascribed and attributed to Him through their lie and their fabrication: (Glory be to Him), by which He means: a glorification and an absolution of His having a child, as well as an exaltedness and elevation above that. And we have already previously demonstrated the meaning of the saying of the one who says: "Subḥāna Allāh" (Glory be to Allah), in a manner that relieves us from repeating it in this place.

   * * *

   Then He informed — exalted be His praise — that to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth, in ownership and creation. And the meaning of that is: And how could the Messiah be a child to Allah, when he must inevitably be in one of these places — either in the heavens or on the earth — and to Allah belongs the ownership of what is therein? And if the Messiah were a son as you claim, then he would not be like all the rest of what is in the heavens and the earth among His creation and His servants, in the manifestation of the signs of being-created in him.

   * * *

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ (116)

   (All are devoutly obedient to Him) (116)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The people of interpretation differed concerning the explanation of that. Some of them said: The meaning of it is: being obedient.

   * Mention of those who said that:

   1850 – Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying (all are devoutly obedient to Him): being obedient.

   1851 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the saying of Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He —: (all are devoutly obedient to Him), he said: being obedient. He said: the obedience of the unbeliever (kāfir) lies in the casting down of his shadow.

   1852 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, with a similar narration, except that he added: through the casting down of his shadow, while he detests it.

   1853 – Mūsā related to us, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (all are devoutly obedient to Him), he says: all are obedient to Him on the Day of Resurrection.

   1854 – Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd related to me, on the authority of someone whom he named, on the authority of ʿIkrima: (all are devoutly obedient to Him), he said: the obedience.

   1855 – It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb ibn al-Ḥārith, he said: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: (devoutly obedient): being obedient.

   * * *

   And others said: The meaning of it is: all acknowledge before Him servitude.

   * Mention of those who said that:

   1856 – Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn ibn Wāqid related to us, on the authority of Yazīd al-Naḥwī, on the authority of ʿIkrima: (all are devoutly obedient to Him): all acknowledge before Him servitude.

   * * *

   And others said that which:

   1857 – Al-Muthannā related it to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, his saying: (all are devoutly obedient to Him), he said: all stand before Him on the Day of Resurrection.

   * * *

   And the word "al-qunūt" has in the language of the Arabs several meanings: the first of them is obedience, the second is standing, and the third is refraining from speech and silence concerning it.

   * * *

   And the most appropriate of the meanings of "al-qunūt" in His saying (all are devoutly obedient to Him) is obedience and the acknowledgement before Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — of servitude, through the testimony of their bodies with the traces of being-created which are in them, and the indication of the oneness of Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — and that Allah — exalted be His mention — is their Originator and their Creator. That is because Allah — exalted be His praise — declared those who claimed that Allah has a child to be liars through His saying بَلْ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ (Nay, to Him belongs whatever is in the heavens and the earth), in ownership and creation. Then He informed concerning everything that is in the heavens and the earth, that it acknowledges through its indication of its Lord and Creator, and that Allah — the Exalted — is its Originator and its Maker. And if some of them were to deny that, then their tongues submit to Him in obedience, through their testimony for Him with the traces of being-created which are in them, and that the Messiah is one of them. How then could he be a child to Allah, when this is his characteristic?

   * * *

   And some, whose knowledge fell short of giving the saying its correct direction, have claimed that His saying (all are devoutly obedient to Him) applies specifically to the people of obedience and is not general. But it is not permissible to claim a specific restriction in a verse whose outward meaning is general, except with a proof to which one must submit, on account of what we have set forth in our book: "Kitāb al-bayān ʿan uṣūl al-aḥkām" (The Book of the Exposition of the Foundations of the Rulings).

   * * *

   And this is an informing from Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — that the Messiah, of whom the Christians claimed that he is the son of Allah, declares them to be liars, he together with the heavens and the earth and what is therein, whether by the tongue or by the indication. That is because Allah — exalted be His praise — informed concerning all of them regarding their obedience to Him and their acknowledgement before Him of servitude, immediately after His saying وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا (And they said: "Allah has taken to Himself a child"), and that indicates the correctness of what we have said.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا سُبْحَانَهُ بَلْ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ (116) قال أبو جعفر : يعني بقوله جل ثناؤه: (وقالوا اتخذ الله ولدا) ، الذين منعوا مساجد الله أن يذكر فيها اسمه ، (وقالوا) : معطوف على قوله: وَسَعَى فِي خَرَابِهَا . * * * وتأويل الآية: ومن أظلم ممن منع مساجد الله أن يذكر فيها اسمه وسعى في خرابها ، وقالوا اتخذ الله ولدا، وهم النصارى الذين زعموا أن عيسى ابن الله؟ فقال الله جل ثناؤه مكذبا قيلهم ما قالوا من ذلك ومنتفيا مما نحلوه وأضافوا إليه بكذبهم وفريتهم: (30) (سبحانه) ، يعني بها: تنـزيها وتبريئا من أن يكون له ولد ، وعلوا وارتفاعا عن ذلك. وقد دللنا فيما مضى على معنى قول القائل: " سبحان الله " ، بما أغنى عن إعادته في هذا الموضع. (31) * * * ثم أخبر جل ثناؤه أن له ما في السموات والأرض ملكا وخلقا . ومعنى ذلك: وكيف يكون المسيح لله ولدا ، وهو لا يخلو إما أن يكون في بعض هذه الأماكن، إما في السموات ، وإما في الأرض ، ولله ملك ما فيهما. ولو كان المسيح ابنا كما زعمتم ، لم يكن كسائر ما في السموات والأرض من خلقه وعبيده ، في ظهور آيات الصنعة فيه. * * * القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : كُلٌّ لَهُ قَانِتُونَ (116) قال أبو جعفر: اختلف أهل التأويل في تأويل ذلك ، فقال بعضهم: معنى ذلك: مطيعون. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 1850- حدثنا الحسن بن يحيى قال، أخبرنا عبد الرزاق قال، أخبرنا معمر ، عن قتادة في قوله: (كل له قانتون) ، مطيعون. 1851- حدثني محمد بن عمرو قال، حدثنا أبو عاصم قال، حدثنا عيسى ، عن ابن أبي نجيح ، عن مجاهد في قول الله عز وجل: (كل له قانتون) ، قال: مطيعون قال، طاعة الكافر في سجود ظله. 1852- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا أبو حذيفة قال، حدثنا شبل ، عن ابن أبي نجيح ، عن مجاهد، بمثله ، إلا أنه زاد: بسجود ظله وهو كاره. 1853- حدثنا موسى قال، حدثنا عمرو قال، حدثنا أسباط ، عن السدي: (كل له قانتون)، يقول: كل له مطيعون يوم القيامة. 1854- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا إسحاق قال، حدثني يحيى بن سعيد ، عمن ذكره ، عن عكرمة: (كل له قانتون) ، قال: الطاعة. 1855- حدثت عن المنجاب بن الحارث قال، حدثنا بشر بن عمارة ، عن أبي روق ، عن الضحاك ، عن ابن عباس: (قانتون) ، مطيعون. * * * وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك كل له مقرون بالعبودية. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 1856- حدثنا ابن حميد قال، حدثنا يحيى بن واضح قال، حدثنا الحسين بن واقد ، عن يزيد النحوي ، عن عكرمة: (كل له قانتون) ، كل مقر له بالعبودية. * * * وقال آخرون بما:- 1857- حدثني به المثنى قال، حدثنا إسحاق قال، حدثنا ابن أبي جعفر ، عن أبيه ، عن الربيع قوله: (كل له قانتون) ، قال: كل له قائم يوم القيامة. * * * ولِـ " القنوت " في كلام العرب معان: أحدها الطاعة ، والآخر القيام ، والثالث الكف عن الكلام والإمساك عنه. * * * وأولى معاني " القنوت " في قوله: (كل له قانتون)، الطاعة والإقرار لله عز وجل بالعبودية ، بشهادة أجسامهم بما فيها من آثار الصنعة ، والدلالة على وحدانية الله عز وجل ، وأن الله تعالى ذكره بارئها وخالقها. وذلك أن الله جل ثناؤه أكذب الذين زعموا أن لله ولدا بقوله: بَلْ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ ، ملكا وخلقا. ثم أخبر عن جميع ما في السموات والأرض أنها مقرة بدلالتها على ربها وخالقها ، وأن الله تعالى بارئها وصانعها. وإن جحد ذلك بعضهم ، فألسنتهم مذعنة له بالطاعة ، بشهادتها له بآثار الصنعة التي فيها بذلك ، وأن المسيح أحدهم ، فأنى يكون لله ولدا وهذه صفته؟ * * * وقد زعم بعض من قصرت معرفته عن توجيه الكلام وِجْهتَه، أن قوله: (كل له قانتون) ، خاصة لأهل الطاعة وليست بعامة. وغير جائز ادعاء خصوص في آية عام ظاهرها ، إلا بحجة يجب التسليم لها ، لما قد بينا في كتابنا: " كتاب البيان عن أصول الأحكام ". * * * وهذا خبر من الله جل وعز عن أن المسيح - الذي زعمت النصارى أنه ابن الله - مكذبهم هو والسموات والأرض وما فيها ، إما باللسان ، وإما بالدلالة. وذلك أن الله جل ثناؤه أخبر عن جميعهم ، بطاعتهم إياه، وإقرارهم له بالعبودية ، عقيب قوله: وَقَالُوا اتَّخَذَ اللَّهُ وَلَدًا ، فدل ذلك على صحة ما قلنا. -------------------- الهوامش : (31) انظر ما سلف 1 : 474 ، 495 . (32) انظر ما سلف 1 : 251 ، وهذا الجزء 2 : 140 ، 377 ، 506 . (33) في المطبوعة : "الأعشى بن ثعلبة" ، وهو خطأ محض.