Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Exposition of the interpretation of the saying of the Exalted: إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لا تَعْلَمُونَ (169)

   (He only commands you to do evil and the shameful, and that you say about Allah what you do not know.) (2:169)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — may His mention be praised — means by His saying "He only commands you" the satan, "to do evil and the shameful, and that you say about Allah what you do not know."

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   "Evil" (al-sūʾ): that is sin, comparable to "harm" (al-ḍurr), derived from one's saying: "This matter grieved you (sāʾaka), it grieves you grievously (yasūʾuka sūʾan)," and it is that which inflicts suffering upon the one who does it.

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   As for "the shameful" (al-faḥshāʾ): this is a verbal noun (maṣdar), comparable to "prosperity and adversity" (al-sarrāʾ wa-l-ḍarrāʾ),⁽⁶⁵⁾ and it is everything whose mention is regarded as shameful and whose hearing is detestable.

   It has been said: "evil" (al-sūʾ) which Allah mentions — that is the acts of disobedience toward Allah. If that is so, then Allah named it "evil" only because it inflicts suffering upon its perpetrator through its evil consequences for him with Allah. And it has been said: "the shameful" (al-faḥshāʾ) is fornication (zinā). If that is so, then it is named [as such]⁽⁶⁶⁾ because of the detestableness of hearing it, and the reprehensibility of that with which its perpetrator is mentioned.

   * Mention of who said that:

   2445 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "He only commands you to do evil and the shameful" — as for "evil," that is disobedience, and as for "the shameful," that is fornication (zinā).

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   As for His saying "and that you say about Allah what you do not know": that is what they declared forbidden of the baḥīras, sāʾibas, waṣīlas, and ḥāmīs, while claiming that Allah had declared that forbidden. Thereupon the Exalted — may His mention be praised — said to them: مَا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ بَحِيرَةٍ وَلا سَائِبَةٍ وَلا وَصِيلَةٍ وَلا حَامٍ وَلَكِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ

   (Allah has not instituted any baḥīra, nor sāʾiba, nor waṣīla, nor ḥāmī, but those who disbelieve (kafarū) invent lies about Allah, and most of them do not understand.) [Surah Al-Māʾidah: 103]

   Thus the Exalted — may His mention be praised — informed them in this verse⁽⁶⁷⁾ that their saying "Truly, Allah has declared this forbidden!" belongs to the falsehood which the satan commands them, and that He has in fact permitted it to them and made it good for them, and has not declared the eating of it forbidden to them, but that they say about Allah that whose reality they do not know — out of their obedience to the satan, and their following of his footsteps, and their imitation of the traces of their misguided predecessors and their ignorant forefathers, who concerning Allah and concerning what He sent down to His messenger were ignorant, and concerning the truth and its path were misguided — and out of their excess, just as Allah sent down in His book to His messenger ﷺ, for the Exalted — may His mention be praised — said: وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْـزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا

   (And when it is said to them: "Follow what Allah has sent down," they say: "No, we follow that upon which we found our forefathers.")

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   Footnotes:

   (65) Perhaps the correct reading is: "it is a noun of a verbal noun" (ism maṣdar).

   (66) What is between brackets is an addition through which the sentence runs correctly.

   (67) In the printed edition it reads "and He informed them" (wa-akhbarahum) with the wāw; the correct and sound reading is what is established here.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : إِنَّمَا يَأْمُرُكُمْ بِالسُّوءِ وَالْفَحْشَاءِ وَأَنْ تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ مَا لا تَعْلَمُونَ (169) قال أبو جعفر: يعني تعالى ذكره بقوله: " إنما يأمرُكم "، الشيطانَ،" بالسوء والفحشاء وأن تَقولوا على الله ما لا تعلمون ". * * * " والسوء ": الإثم، مثل " الضُّرّ"، من قول القائل: " ساءك هذا الأمر يَسوءك سُوءًا "، وهو ما يَسوء الفاعل. * * * وأما " الفحشاء "، فهي مصدر مثل " السراء والضراء "، (65) وهي كل ما استُفحش ذكرُه، وقَبُح مَسموعه. وقيل: إن " السوء " الذي ذكره الله، هو معاصي الله. فإن كان ذلك كذلك, فإنما سَمَّاها الله " سوءًا " لأنها تسوء صاحبها بسوء عاقبتها له عند الله. وقيل: إن " الفحشاء "، الزنا: فإن كان ذلك كذلك, فإنما يُسمى [كذلك]، (66) لقبح مسموعه، ومكرُوه ما يُذْكَر به فاعله. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 2445- حدثني موسى بن هارون قال، حدثنا عمرو قال، حدثنا أسباط, عن السدي: " إنما يأمركم بالسوء والفحشاء "، أمّا " السوء "، فالمعصية, وأما " الفحشاء "، فالزنا. * * * وأما قوله: " وأنْ تَقولوا على الله مَا لا تعلمون "، فهو ما كانوا يحرِّمون من البحائر والسوائب والوَصائل والحوامي, ويزعمون أن الله حرَّم ذلك. فقال تعالى ذكره لهم: مَا جَعَلَ اللَّهُ مِنْ بَحِيرَةٍ وَلا سَائِبَةٍ وَلا وَصِيلَةٍ وَلا حَامٍ وَلَكِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا يَفْتَرُونَ عَلَى اللَّهِ الْكَذِبَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْقِلُونَ [سورة المائدة: 103] فأخبرهم تعالى ذكره في هذه الآية، (67) أنّ قيلهم: " إنّ الله حرم هذا!" من الكذب الذي يأمرهم به الشيطان, وأنه قد أحلَّه لهم وطيَّبه, ولم يحرم أكله عليهم, ولكنهم يقولون على الله ما لا يعلمون حقيقته، طاعةً منهم للشيطان, واتباعًا منهم خطواته, واقتفاء منهم آثارَ أسلافهم الضُّلال وآبائهم الجهال, الذين كانوا بالله وبما أنـزل على رسوله جُهالا وعن الحق ومنهاجه ضُلالا - وإسرافًا منهم, كما أنـزل الله في كتابه على رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم فقال تعالى ذكره: وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمُ اتَّبِعُوا مَا أَنْـزَلَ اللَّهُ قَالُوا بَلْ نَتَّبِعُ مَا أَلْفَيْنَا عَلَيْهِ آبَاءَنَا . * * * --------------------------- الهوامش: (65) لعل الصواب ، "فهي اسم مصدر" . (66) ما بين القوسين زيادة يستقيم بها الكلام . (67) في المطبوعة ، "وأخبرهم" بالواو ، والصواب الجيد ما أثبت .