Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ

   (The life of this world is made fair-seeming to those who disbelieve, and they mock those who believe; but those who are God-fearing will be above them on the Day of Resurrection.)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His laud — means by this: For those who disbelieve (kāfir), the love of the hastening worldly life with its pleasures has been made fair-seeming. Therefore they strive therein to outdo one another in possessions and to boast over one another, and they seek therein positions of leadership and pomp, and they exalt themselves haughtily above following you, O Muḥammad, and above acknowledging what you have brought on My behalf — out of a greatness which they arrogate to themselves against whoever holds you truthful and follows you. And they mock whoever follows you among the people of faith (īmān) and of holding you truthful, because these people have abandoned the mutual outdoing in possessions and the boasting over the world and its adornment of treasures and riches, by pursuing what is with Me, with renunciation of the world and the forsaking of its adornment. And those who have worked for Me, devoted themselves to My obedience, and rejected the pleasures and desires of the world — in following you, and in pursuing what is with Me, and out of God-fearingness on their part by fulfilling My obligations and avoiding My disobediences — they are above those who disbelieve on the Day of Resurrection, in that the God-fearing are admitted into the Garden (janna) and those who disbelieve are admitted into the Fire (al-nār).

   And in the sense of what we have said by way of explanation concerning this, a group of them has spoken.

   * Mention of who said that:

   4046 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His saying: "The life of this world is made fair-seeming to those who disbelieve." He said: The disbelievers strive for the world and pursue it — "and they mock those who believe" because of their pursuit of the Hereafter. Ibn Jurayj said: I think it is only from ʿIkrima, who said: They said: If Muḥammad were a prophet as he claims, then our nobles and our leaders would follow him! By Allah, no one has followed him except the people in needy circumstances, like Ibn Masʿūd!

   4047 — 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: "but those who are God-fearing will be above them on the Day of Resurrection." He said: "above them" in the Garden.

   * * *

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَاللَّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ (212)

   (And Allah provides for whom He wills, without reckoning.)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by this: And Allah gives to those who are God-fearing on the Day of Resurrection of His favors, His honors, and His abundant gifts, without reckoning them for the honor with which He has favored them.

   * * *

   If someone were to say to us: What praise is there in His saying "He provides for whom He wills without reckoning"? Then it is answered: The meaning of praise therein is the announcement that He does not fear the exhaustion of His storehouses, such that He would have need to reckon what comes forth from them. For reckoning occurs on the part of the giver only so that he may know the magnitude of the gift that goes out from his possession to another, so that he would not, in his gifts, exceed to what would cause him harm. But our Lord — blessed and exalted be He — does not fear the exhaustion of His storehouses, nor any diminution of His possession through that which He gives to His servants, such that He would have need to reckon what He gives and to add up what remains. That, then, is the meaning in His saying: "And Allah provides for whom He wills without reckoning."

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   Footnotes:

   (4) In the printed edition it reads "the hastening one in sin," which is a statement without meaning. Allah named the world "the hastening one" because of the fact that He hastens for those who love it whatever He wills of its adornment and its pleasure. He alludes thereby to the saying of the Exalted: مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعَاجِلَةَ عَجَّلْنَا لَهُ فِيهَا مَا نَشَاءُ لِمَنْ نُرِيدُ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا لَهُ جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَاهَا مَذْمُومًا مَدْحُورًا [Surah al-Isrāʾ: 18].

   (Whoever desires the hastening [life], for him We hasten therein what We will, for whom We will; then We appoint for him Hell (jahannam), which he shall enter, blamed and rejected.)

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا الْحَيَاةُ الدُّنْيَا وَيَسْخَرُونَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَالَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا فَوْقَهُمْ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ قال أبو جعفر: يعني جل ثناؤه بذلك: زيِّن للذين كفروا حبُّ الحياة الدنيا العاجلة اللذات، (4) فهم يبتغون فيها المكاثرة والمفاخرة، ويطلبون فيها الرياسات والمباهاة، ويستكبرون عن اتباعك يا محمد، والإقرار بما جئت به من عندي، تعظُّمًا منهم على من صدَّقك واتبعك، ويسخرون بمن تبعك من أهل، الإيمان، والتصديق بك، في تركهم المكاثرة، والمفاخرة بالدنيا وزينتها من الرياش والأموال، &; 4-274 &; بطلب الرياسات وإقبالهم على طلبهم ما عندي برفض الدنيا وترك زينتها، والذين عملوا لي= وأقبلوا على طاعتي، ورفضوا لذات الدنيا وشهواتها، اتباعًا لك، وطلبًا لما عندي، واتقاءً منهم بأداء فرائضي، وتجنُّب معاصيَّ = فوق الذين كفروا يوم القيامة، بإدخال المتقين الجنة، وإدخال الذين كفروا النار. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك من التأويل قال جماعة منهم. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 4046 - حدثنا القاسم، قال: حدثنا الحسين، قال: حدثني حجاج، عن ابن جريج قوله: " زُيِّن للذين كفروا الحياة الدنيا "، قال: الكفار يبتغون الدنيا ويطلبونها =" ويسخرون من الذين آمنوا "، في طلبهم الآخرة - قال ابن جريج: لا أحسبه إلا عن عكرمة، قال: قالوا: لو كان محمد نبيًا كما يقول، لاتبعه أشرافنا وساداتنا‍! والله ما اتبعه إلا أهل الحاجة مثل ابن مسعود! 4047 - حدثنا الحسن بن يحيى، قال: أخبرنا عبد الرزاق، قال: أخبرنا معمر، عن قتادة في قوله: " والذين اتقوا فوقهم يوم القيامة "، قال: " فوقهم " في الجنة. * * * القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَاللَّهُ يَرْزُقُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ بِغَيْرِ حِسَابٍ (212) قال أبو جعفر: ويعني بذلك: والله يعطي الذين اتقوا يوم القيامة من نعمه وكراماته وجزيل عطاياه، بغير محاسبة منه لهم على ما منّ به عليهم من كرامته. * * * فإن قال لنا قائل: وما في قوله: " يرزق من يشاء بغير حساب " من المدح ؟ قيل: المعنى الذي فيه من المدح، الخيرُ عن أنه غير خائف نفادَ خزائنه، &; 4-275 &; فيحتاج إلى حساب ما يخرج منها، إذ كان الحساب من المعطي إنما يكون ليعلم قَدْر العطاء الذي يخرج من ملكه إلى غيره، لئلا يتجاوز في عطاياه إلى ما يُجحف به، فربنا تبارك وتعالى غيرُ خائف نفادَ خزائنه، ولا انتقاصَ شيء من ملكه، بعطائه ما يعطي عبادَه، فيحتاج إلى حساب ما يعطي، وإحصاء ما يبقي. فذلك المعنى الذي في قوله: " والله يرزق من يشاء بغير حساب " ---------------- الهوامش : (4) في المطبوعة : "العاجلة في الذنب" وهو كلام بلا معنى . وقد سمى الله الدنيا"العاجلة" لتعجيله الذين يحبونها ما يشاء من زينتها ولذتها ، وهو يشير بذلك إلى قوله تعالى : { مَنْ كَانَ يُرِيدُ الْعَاجِلَةَ عَجَّلْنَا لَهُ فِيهَا مَا نَشَاءُ لِمَنْ نُرِيدُ ثُمَّ جَعَلْنَا لَهُ جَهَنَّمَ يَصْلَاهَا مَذْمُومًا مَدْحُورًا } [سورة الإسراء : 18] .