Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The discourse on the explanation of the saying of the Exalted: كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولا مِنْكُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ (151)

   (Just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves, who recites to you Our signs, and purifies you, and teaches you the Book and the wisdom, and teaches you what you did not know.) (151)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: By His saying — exalted be His praise — "Just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves" He means: and so that I might complete My favor upon you by setting forth the laws of your true monotheistic faith (al-ḥanīfiyya), and so that I might guide you to the religion of My friend Ibrāhīm — peace be upon him — and so that I might grant you the supplication with which he prayed to Me, and the request that he asked of Me, when he said: رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ [Surah Al-Baqarah: 128]

   (Our Lord, make us both submissive to You, and make of our descendants a community submissive to You, and show us our rites of worship, and accept our repentance; truly, You are the Acceptor of repentance, the Most Merciful) [Surah Al-Baqarah: 128] — just as I have granted you the supplication with which he prayed to Me, and the request that he asked of Me, when he said: رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ [Surah Al-Baqarah: 129]

   (Our Lord, send among them a messenger from among themselves, who recites to them Your signs, and teaches them the Book and the wisdom, and purifies them; truly, You are the Almighty, the All-Wise) [Surah Al-Baqarah: 129] — and so I sent from among you My messenger, for whose sending My friend Ibrāhīm and his son Ismāʿīl asked Me, that I should raise him up from the offspring of them both.

   Thus "just as" (kamā) — since this is the meaning of the saying — is connected to the saying of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: وَلأُتِمَّ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكُمْ (And so that I might complete My favor upon you). And His saying "Just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves" has no connection to His saying فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ (Remember Me, and I will remember you).

   * * *

   Some people have said: the meaning of it is: "Remember Me, just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves, and I will remember you." They claimed that this belongs to the category of what is placed forward whose meaning is postponement. But by this they have drawn the bow too far, and have strayed far from what is correct, and have driven the saying toward a meaning other than its well-known one, and toward something other than its understood import.

   This is because what is current in speech upon the tongues of the Arabs, what is understood in their addressing one another — when one says to another: "Just as I have done you good, O so-and-so, so do good likewise" — is that they do not posit a condition for the second part, for the "kāf" in "kamā" is a condition whose meaning is: "Do as I have done." Now, in the coming of the response "Remember Me" after that, namely His saying أَذْكُرْكُمْ (and I will remember you), lies the clearest proof that His saying "just as We have sent" is connected to the verb that precedes it, and that His saying "Remember Me, and I will remember you" is a self-standing statement, detached from what precedes it, and that — as regards the cause of His saying "just as We have sent among you" — it stands separate from it.

   * * *

   Some grammarians have claimed that His saying فَاذْكُرُونِي (So remember Me) — when one makes His saying "just as We have sent among you" a response to it, together with His saying أَذْكُرْكُمْ (and I will remember you) — is equivalent to the conditional clause that is answered with two responses, as when one says: "When so-and-so comes to you, go to him, and you will please him," whereby his saying "go to him" and "you will please him" both become responses to his saying "when he comes to you"; and as in his saying: "If you come to me, I will do you good, I will honor you."

   This view, even though it is one of the current doctrines, does not belong to the easiest and most eloquent in the speech of the Arabs. And what is most fitting for the Book of Allah, Mighty and Exalted, is that one ascribe it to the most eloquent and best-known of the linguistic forms of the Arabs, and not to the most rejected and most obscure of their speech. This, in addition to the remoteness of that import from what is understood in the interpretation.

   * * *

   Mention of those who said: His saying "just as We have sent" is the response to his saying "Remember Me":

   2309 – Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, saying: I heard Ibn Abī Najīḥ say concerning the saying of Allah, Mighty and Exalted: "just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves": as I have done, so remember Me.

   2310 – Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.

   * * *

   His saying "just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves" — by it He means the Arabs. The Exalted said to them: Hold fast, O Arabs, to obedience to Me, and turn toward the prayer-direction (qibla) toward which I have commanded you to turn, so that the argument of the Jews against you might fall away, so that they have no argument against you, and so that I might complete My favor upon you, and you might be guided, just as I initially bestowed My favor upon you by sending among you a messenger from among yourselves. And that messenger whom He sent to them from among themselves was Muḥammad — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him — as:

   2311 – Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His saying "just as We have sent among you a messenger from among yourselves": by it Muḥammad is meant — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him.

   * * *

   And as for His saying "who recites to you Our signs": by it He means the signs of the Qurʾān. And by His saying "and purifies you": and cleanses you of the filth of sins. And "and teaches you the Book," that is the Criterion (al-Furqān), which means: that He teaches them its rulings. And by "the wisdom" (al-ḥikma) He means the transmitted practices (sunan) and the understanding of the religion (al-fiqh fī al-dīn). All of that we have already set forth previously, with its supporting evidences.

   * * *

   And as for His saying "and teaches you what you did not know": by it He means: and He teaches you of the reports of the prophets, and the accounts of the bygone communities, and the report concerning what comes to pass and occurs of the matters that the Arabs did not know, which they then learned from the Messenger of Allah — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him. Thus the Exalted informed them that they could obtain all of that only by means of His messenger — Allah's blessing and peace be upon him.

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   Footnotes:

   (53) This is al-Farrāʾ; see Maʿānī al-Qurʾān 1:92.

   (54) "Aghraqa al-nāziʿ fī al-qaws" (the archer drew the bow too far) means: when he drew it and exceeded the limit in pulling the bow, and the arrowhead reached the middle of the bow, so that it sometimes cut off the archer's hand. And "nazaʿa al-rāmī fī qawsihi nazʿan" means: he drew the arrow with the bowstring. And their saying "aghraqa fī al-nazʿ" is a proverb for exaggeration and excess.

   (55) This too belongs to the saying of al-Farrāʾ; see Maʿānī al-Qurʾān 1:92.

   (56) See what has previously passed in this volume, 3:86-88, and the references.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولا مِنْكُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ (151) قال أبو جعفر: يعني بقوله جل ثناؤه: " كما أرسلنا فيكم رسولا "، ولأتمّ نعمتي عليكم ببيان شرائع ملتكم الحنيفية, وأهديَكم لدين خليلي إبراهيم عليه السلام, فأجعل لكم دَعوتَه التي دعاني بها ومسألتَه التي سألنيها فقال: رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ [سورة البقرة: 128]، كما جعلت لكُم دعوته التي دعاني بها، ومسألته التي سألنيها فقال: رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو &; 3-209 &; عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ [سورة البقرة: 129]، فابتعثت منكم رَسولي الذي سألني إبراهيمُ خليلي وابنُهُ إسماعيل، أنْ أبعثه من ذرّيتهما. ف " كما " -إذ كان ذلك معنى الكلام- صلةٌ لقول الله عز وجل: وَلأُتِمَّ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكُمْ . ولا يكون قوله: " كما أرسلنا فيكم رسولا منكم "، متعلقًا بقوله: فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ . * * * وقد قال قوم: إنّ معنى ذلك: فاذكرُوني كما أرسلنا فيكم رسولا منكم أذكركم. وزعموا أن ذلك من المقدم الذي معناه التأخير، (53) فأغرقوا النـزع، (54) وبعدوا من الإصابة, وحملوا الكلام على غير معناه المعروف، وسِوَى وجهه المفهوم. وذلك أنّ الجاريَ من الكلام على ألسن العرب، المفهومَ في خطابهم بينهم - إذا قال بعضهم لبعض: " كما أحسنت إليك يا فلان فأحسن " - أن لا يَشترطوا للآخر, لأن " الكاف " في" كما " شرطٌ معناه: افعل كما فعلت. ففي مجيء جواب: " اذكروني" بعده، وهو قوله: أَذْكُرْكُمْ ، أوضحُ دليل على أن قوله: " كما أرسلنا " من صلة الفعل الذي قبله, وأن قوله: " اذكروني أذكركم " خبرٌ مبتدأ منقطعٌ عن الأول, وأنه =من سبب قوله: " كما أرْسلنا فيكم "= بمعزل. * * * وقد زعم بعض النحويين أن قوله: فَاذْكُرُونِي -إذا جُعل قوله: " كما أرسلنا فيكم " جوابًا له، مع قوله: أَذْكُرْكُمْ - نظيرُ الجزاء الذي يجاب بجوابين, كقول القائل: إذا أتاك فلانٌ فأته تَرْضَه ", فيصير قوله: " فأته " و " ترضه " جوابين لقوله: " إذا أتاك ", وكقوله: " إن تأتني أحسِن إليك أكرمك ". (55) وهذا القولُ وإن كان مذهبًا من المذاهب, فليس بالأسهل الأفصح في كلام العرب. والذي هو أولى بكتاب الله عز وجل أن يوجِّه إليه من اللغات، الأفصح الأعرفُ من كلام العرب، دون الأنكر الأجهل من منطقها. هذا، مع بعد وجهه من المفهوم في التأويل. * * * ذكر من قَال: إنّ قوله: " كما أرسلنا "، جوابُ قوله: " فاذكروني". 2309- حدثني محمد بن عمرو قال، حدثنا أبو عاصم قال، حدثنا عيسى قال، سمعت ابن أبي نجيح يقول في قول الله عز وجل: " كما أرسلنا فيكم رسولا منكم "، كما فعلتُ فاذكروني. 2310- حدثنا المثنى قال، حدثنا أبو حذيفة قال، حدثنا شبل, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد مثله. * * * قوله: " كما أرسلنا فيكم رَسولا منكم "، فإنه يعني بذلك العرب, قال لهم جل ثناؤه: الزموا أيها العربُ طاعتي, وتوجهوا إلى القبلة التي أمرتكم بالتوجُّه إليها, لتنقطع حُجة اليهود عنكم, فلا تكون لهم عليكم حجَة, ولأتم نعمتي عليكم، وتهتدوا, كما ابتدأتكم بنعمتي، فأرسلت فيكم رسولا منكم. وذلك الرسول الذي أرسلَه إليهم منهم: محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، كما:- 2311- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا إسحاق قال، حدثنا ابن أبي جعفر, عن أبيه, عن الربيع في قوله: " كما أرْسلنا فيكم رسولا منكم "، يعني محمدًا صلى الله عليه وسلم. * * * وأمّا قوله: " يتلو عليكم آياتنا "، فإنه يعني آيات القرآن, وبقوله: " ويزكيكم " ويطهّركم من دَنَس الذنوب, و " يعلمكم الكتاب " وهو الفرقان, يعني: أنه يعلمهم أحكامه. ويعني: ب " الحكمة " السننَ والفقهَ في الدين. وقد بينا جميع ذلك فيما مضى قبل بشواهده. (56) * * * وأمّا قوله: " ويعلمكم ما لم تكونوا تعلمون "، فإنه يعني: ويعلمكم من أخبار الأنبياء, وقَصَص الأمم الخالية, والخبر عما هو حادثٌ وكائن من الأمور التي لم تكن العرب تعلمها, فعلِموها من رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم. فأخبرهم جل ثناؤه أنّ ذلك كله إنما يدركونه برَسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم. ----------------------- الهوامش : (53) هو الفراء ، انظر معاني القرآن 1 : 92 . (54) أغرق النازع في القوس : إذا شدها ، وجاوز الحد في مد القوس ، وبلغ النصل كبد القوس ، فربما قطع يد الرامي . ونزع الرامي في قوسه نزعًا : جذب السهم بالوتر . وقولهم : "أغرق في النزع" ، مثل في الغلو والإفراظ . (55) هو من قول الفراء أيضًا ، انظر معاني القرآن 1 : 92 . (56) انظر ما سلف في هذا الجزء 3 : 86-88 والمراجع .