Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ يَا أُولِي الأَلْبَابِ ("And in legal retaliation (qiṣāṣ) there is life for you, O people of insight") (2:179).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted means by His word "And in legal retaliation (qiṣāṣ) there is life for you, O people of insight": and for you, O people of understanding, there is in that which I have prescribed for you and that which I have made obligatory upon some of you with respect to others — namely, retaliation in cases of killing, wounds, and head injuries — that which restrains some of you from killing others, and through which some of you refrain from others; thus you remained alive thereby. So in My judgment, by which I judged between you, there is life for you. (70)

   * * *

   The scholars of interpretation differed concerning the meaning of this.

   Some of them said concerning it something along the lines of what we have said about it.

   * Mention of who said that:

   2617 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you, O people of insight," he said: a deterrent example, a restraint.

   2618 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Zāʾida related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you," he said: a deterrent example, a restraint.

   2619 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, something similar.

   2620 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Qatāda: "And in legal retaliation there is life for you" — Allah made this legal retaliation a source of life, and a deterrent example and an admonition for the foolish and ignorant among the people. How many a man has contemplated a calamitous deed and would have committed it were it not for fear of retaliation! But Allah, by means of retaliation, restrained people from one another. And Allah never commanded anything except that it was something bringing welfare in this world and in the Hereafter, and Allah never forbade anything except that it was something bringing corruption in this world and in religion. And Allah knows best what sets His creatures aright.

   2621 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you, O people of insight," he said: Allah placed life in legal retaliation; for when the unjust transgressor thinks of it, he refrains from killing.

   2622 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you" — the verse — he says: Allah made this legal retaliation a source of life and a lesson for you. How many a man has contemplated a calamitous deed, and the fear of retaliation restrained him from committing it! And Allah, by means of retaliation, restrained His servants from one another.

   2623 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you," he said: a deterrent example, a restraint. Ibn Jurayj said: "life" — protection.

   2624 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you": a life, a continued existence. (71) When this man fears being killed on my account, he refrains from me. Perhaps he is my enemy who wishes to kill me, but then he remembers that he will be killed in the framework of retaliation, and he fears being killed on my account, and so he is restrained by the retaliation that he feared. Were it not for that, he would have killed this man.

   2625 — It was related to me on the authority of Yaʿlā ibn ʿUbayd, saying: Ismāʿīl related to us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His word "And in legal retaliation there is life for you," he said: continued existence.

   * * *

   Others said: the meaning of this is: and in legal retaliation against the killer there is a continued existence for others, because according to the judgment of Allah, for the one killed none is killed except his killer. In the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya), however, they would kill for the woman the man, and for the slave the free man.

   * Mention of who said that:

   2626 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And in legal retaliation there is life for you" — he says: a continued existence; none is killed except the killer for his crime.

   * * *

   As for the explanation of His word "O people of insight (yā ūlī al-albāb)": it means: O people of understanding. And "al-albāb" is the plural of "al-lubb," and "al-lubb" is the intellect.

   * * *

   And the Exalted directed the address specifically to the people of understanding, because they are the ones who comprehend the command and prohibition of Allah, and who reflect upon His signs and proofs, unlike others.

   * * *

   Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ ("so that you may become God-fearing") (2:179).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: And the explanation of His word "so that you may become God-fearing" is: so that you may fear retaliation and thereby refrain from killing, as:

   269 — Yūnus related it to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word "so that you may become God-fearing," he said: so that you would fear killing him, lest you be killed on his account.

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   Footnotes:

   (70) "Qadaʿahu yaqdaʿuhu qadʿan": he restrained him. From this also: "Restrain these souls, for they are covetous" — that is: restrain them from what they covet and desire.

   (71) "Baqiyya": that is, continued existence. I fear, however, that it is "taqiyya" with the tāʾ, that is "ittiqāʾ" (guarding oneself), as the rest of the narration indicates. Both, however, are correct in meaning.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقِصَاصِ حَيَاةٌ يَا أُولِي الأَلْبَابِ قال أبو جعفر: يعني تعالى ذكره بقوله: " ولكم في القصَاص حَياةٌ يا أولي الألباب "، ولكم يا أولي العقول، فيما فرضتُ عليكم وأوجبتُ لبعضكم على بعض، من القصاص في النفوس والجراح والشجاج، مَا مَنع به بعضكم من قتل بعض، وقَدَع بعضكم عن بعض، فحييتم بذلك، فكان لكم في حكمي بينكم بذلك حياة. (70) * * * واختلف أهل التأويل في معنى ذلك. فقال بعضهم في ذلك نحو الذي قلنا فيه. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 2617- حدثني محمد بن عمرو قال، حدثنا أبو عاصم قال، حدثنا عيسى, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد في قوله: " ولكم في القصَاص حياةٌ يا أولي الألباب " قال، نكالٌ, تَناهٍ. 2618- حدثنا أبو كريب قال، حدثنا ابن أبي زائدة, عن ورقاء, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد في قوله: " ولكم في القصاص حياة " قال، نكالٌ, تَناهٍ. 2619- حدثني المثنى قال: حدثنا أبو حذيفة قال، حدثنا شبل, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد مثله. 2620- حدثنا بشر بن معاذ قال، حدثنا يزيد, عن سعيد, عن قتادة: " ولكم في القصاص حياة "، جعل الله هذا القصاص حياة، ونكالا وعظةً لأهل السفه والجهل من الناس. وكم من رجل قد هَمّ بداهية، لولا مخافة القصاص لوقع بها, ولكن الله حَجز بالقصاص بعضهم عن بعض؛ وما أمر الله بأمر قط إلا وهو أمر صلاح في الدنيا والآخرة، ولا نهي الله عن أمر قط إلا وهو أمر فساد في الدنيا والدين, والله أعلم بالذي يُصلح خَلقه. 2621- حدثنا الحسن بن يحيى قال، أخبرنا عبد الرزاق قال، أخبرنا معمر, عن قتادة في قوله: " ولكم في القصاص حياة يا أولي الألباب " قال، قد جعل الله في القصاص حياة, إذا ذكره الظالم المتعدي كفّ عن القتل. 2622- حدثت عن عمار بن الحسن قال، حدثنا ابن أبي جعفر, عن أبيه، عن الربيع قوله: " ولكم في القصاص حياة " الآية, يقول: جعل الله هذا القصاص حياة وعبرة لكم. كم من رجل قد هَمّ بداهية فمنعه مخافة القصاص أن يقع بها! وإن الله قد حجز عباده بعضهم عن بعض بالقصاص. 2623- حدثنا القاسم قال، حدثنا الحسين قال، حدثني حجاج, عن ابن جريج, عن مجاهد قوله: " ولكم في القصاص حياة " قال، نكالٌ, تناهٍ. قال ابن جريج: حَياةٌ. مَنعةٌ. 2624- حدثني يونس قال، أخبرنا ابن وهب قال، قال ابن زيد في قوله: " ولكم في القصاص حياة " قال، حياةٌ، بقية. (71) إذا خاف هذا أن يُقتل بي كفّ عني, لعله يكون عدوًّا لي يريد قتلي, فيذكر أن يُقْتَل في القصاص, فيخشى أن يقتل بي, فيكفَّ بالقصاص الذي خافَ أن يقتل، لولا ذلك قتل هذا. 2625- حدثت عن يعلى بن عبيد قال، حدثنا إسماعيل, عن أبي صالح في قوله: " ولكم في القصاص حياة " قال، بقاء. * * * وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك: ولكم في القصاص من القاتل بقاء لغيره، لأنه لا يقتل بالمقتول غيرُ قاتله في حكم الله. وكانوا في الجاهلية يقتلون بالأنثى الذكر, وبالعبد الحرّ. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 2626- حدثني موسى بن هارون قال، حدثنا عمرو بن حماد قال، حدثنا أسباط، عن السدي: " ولكم في القصاص حياة "، يقول: بقاء, لا يقتل إلا القاتل بجنايته. * * * وأما تأويل قوله: " يا أولي الألباب "، فإنه: يا أولي العقول." والألباب " جمع " اللب ", و " اللب " العقل. * * * وخص الله تعالى ذكره بالخطاب أهلَ العقول, لأنهم هم الذين يعقلون عن الله أمره ونهيه، ويتدبّرون آياته وحججه دونَ غيرهم. * * * القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ (179) قال أبو جعفر: وتأويل قوله: " لعلكم تتقون "، أي تتقون القصاص، فتنتَهون عن القتل، كما:- 269- حدثني به يونس قال، أخبرنا ابن وهب قال، قال ابن زيد في قوله: " لعلكم تتقون " قال، لعلك تَتقي أن تقتله، فتقتل به. --------------------- الهوامش : (70) قدعه يقدعه قدعًا : كفه . ومنه : "اقدعوا هذه الأنفس فإنها طلعة" ، أي كفوها عما تشتهي وتريد . (71) بقية : أي إبقاء . وأخشى أن تكون"تقية" بالتاء ، أي اتقاء ، كما يدل عليه سائر الأثر . وكلتاهما صحيحة المعنى .