Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The exposition of the explanation of His exalted word: قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ("We said: Go down from it, all of you").

   Abū Jaʿfar said: We have already set forth previously the exposition of the explanation of His word "We said: Go down from it, all of you,"¹ so that there is no need for us to repeat it, since its meaning in this place is the same as its meaning in that place.

   793 – And Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Hushaym related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Sālim informed us, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His word "Go down from it, all of you," that he said: [It refers to] Ādam, Ḥawwāʾ (Eve), the serpent, and Iblīs.²

   The exposition of the explanation of His word, whose mention is exalted: فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى ("And if then guidance comes to you from Me").

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of His word "fa-immā yaʾtiyannakum" is: "if there comes to you." The "mā" that is joined to "in" serves to strengthen the utterance, and because of its entry together with "in," the doubled nūn was added to "yaʾtiyannakum," to distinguish — by its entry — between the "mā" that has the meaning of strengthening the utterance (which the linguists call ṣila and ḥashw — a connecting, filling addition) and the "mā" that has the meaning of "that which" (alladhī). Thus, by its entry into the verb, it makes known that the "mā" joined to "in" in the meaning of condition (jazāʾ) is a strengthening and not the "mā" that has the meaning of "alladhī."

   Some grammarians of the school of Basra³ have said: "Immā" is "in" to which "mā" has been added, and the verb that follows it takes the light or the heavy nūn, although it may also occur without the nūn. The nūn became euphonious therein only when "mā" entered it, because "mā" is a negation; it thus belongs to that which is not necessarily affirmative, and it is the particle that negates the affirmative, so that the nūn became euphonious therein — as in their saying: "bi-ʿaynin mā arayannak" ("with an eye, verily I show it to you"), where the nūn became euphonious when "mā" entered it, just as is the case here.

   But a group of linguists rejected the claim of the one who states this position⁴: that the "mā" in "bi-ʿaynin mā arayannak" would have the meaning of negation (jaḥd); they asserted that this has the meaning of strengthening the utterance.

   And others said: Rather it is a filler (ḥashw) in the utterance, and its meaning is omittable, for the actual meaning of the utterance is: "bi-ʿaynin arāk" ("with an eye I see you"). It is not permissible to make something over which there is disagreement into a foundational principle upon which something else is analogized.

   * * *

   The exposition of the explanation of His word, whose mention is exalted: مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ ("from Me guidance; and whoever then follows My guidance, no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve") (38).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The "guidance" (al-hudā) in this place means the clarification and the right direction (al-bayān wa-l-rashād). As:—

   794 – al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Ādam al-ʿAsqalānī related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya, concerning His word "And if then guidance comes to you from Me," that he said: The guidance is the prophets, the messengers, and the clarification.⁵

   If what Abū al-ʿĀliya said about this is indeed as he said, then the address in His word "Go down" — even though it was directed to Ādam and his wife — must be understood as intended for Ādam, his wife, and their offspring. This would then be comparable to His word: فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلأَرْضِ اِئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ ("Then He said to it and to the earth: Come, willingly or unwillingly. They both said: We come willingly") [Surah Fuṣṣilat: 11], in the meaning of: "We come, with all the creatures that are within us, willingly." And comparable to His word in the reading of Ibn Masʿūd: (رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمِينَ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِهِمْ مَنَاسِكَهُمْ) ("Our Lord, make us submissive to You, and make of our offspring a community submissive to You, and show them [hum] their rites") [Surah al-Baqarah: 128], where he used the plural before there was any offspring, whereas in our reading it reads: وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا ("and show us [naa] our rites"). And as one says to another: "It is as if you are already married and a child has been born to you, and you have become numerous and mighty" — and similar expressions.

   We have only said that this is what is necessary according to the explanation we have reported from Abū al-ʿĀliya, because Ādam himself, during the days of his life, was the prophet, after he had descended to the earth,⁶ and the messenger of Allah — exalted be His praise — to his children. It is thus not permissible that he — while he himself was the messenger ﷺ — should be intended by His word "And if then guidance comes to you from Me" as an address to him and his wife, [in the sense of] "And if then prophets and messengers come to you from Me,"⁷ except according to the explanation I have described.

   And the statement of Abū al-ʿĀliya about this — even though it is an interpretive possibility that the verse can bear — stands, in my view, farther from the correct meaning than that which lies closer to the outward import of the recitation, namely that its explanation reads: "And if then there comes to you, O assembly of those who have descended to the earth from My heaven⁸ — and that is Ādam, his wife, and Iblīs, as we mentioned earlier in the explanation of the preceding verse — if then there comes to you from Me a clarification concerning My command and obedience to Me, and a right direction toward My path and My religion, then no fear shall come upon whoever among you follows it, nor shall they grieve, even though there had previously occurred from them, against Me, disobedience and opposition to My command and obedience to Me." By this He — exalted be His praise — lets them know that He is the One who accepts the penitent among whoever turns to Him in repentance for his sins, and is the Merciful to whoever turns to Him, as He has described Himself with His word: إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ ("Verily, He is the Acceptor of repentance, the Merciful").

   This is because the outward import of that address is directed only to those to whom He — exalted be His praise — said: اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ("Go down from it, all of you"). And those who were addressed thereby are those whom we have named in the authoritative testimony of the Companions (ṣaḥāba) and the Followers (tābiʿūn), from whom we have already adduced the report.⁹ This — even though it is an address from Allah, exalted be His mention, to those who at that time were brought down from heaven to the earth — is the established custom (sunna) of Allah among all His creatures, and a communication from Him concerning this to those about whom He informed at the beginning of this surah with what He informed about them in His word:¹⁰ إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ("Verily, for those who disbelieve (kafarū) it is the same whether you warn them or do not warn them: they will not believe") [Surah al-Baqarah: 6], and in His word: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ ("And among the people are those who say: We believe in Allah and in the Last Day, while they are not believers") [Surah al-Baqarah: 8] — and that His judgment concerning them — if they turn to Him in repentance and reform themselves and follow what has come to them of clarification from Allah, through the tongue of His messenger Muḥammad ﷺ — is that they shall be, with Him in the hereafter, among those upon whom no fear shall come, nor shall they grieve; and that they, if they perish in their disbelief (kufr) and error before the conversion and the repentance, shall be among the inhabitants of the Fire (al-nār) who abide therein forever.

   And His word "Whoever then follows My guidance" means: whoever then follows My clarification which I have sent by the tongues of My messengers, or with My messengers.¹¹ As:—

   795 – al-Muthannā related it to us, saying: Ādam related to us, saying: Abū Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, on the authority of Abū al-ʿĀliya: "Whoever then follows My guidance" — he means: My clarification.¹²

   * * *

   And His word "no fear shall come upon them" means: they are safe amid the terrors of the Resurrection from the punishment of Allah, not fearing His torment, on account of the fact that they obeyed Allah in the worldly life and followed His command, His guidance, and His path; "nor shall they grieve" on that Day over what they left behind in the worldly life after their departure. As:—

   796 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: "no fear shall come upon them" — he says: no fear shall come upon you in what lies ahead of you.¹³

   And there is nothing that weighs more heavily upon the breast of the one who dies than what comes after death. Therefore He reassured them about that and consoled them over [the loss of] the worldly, and said: "nor shall they grieve."

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   Footnotes:

   (1) See p. 534.

   (2) The report 793 – I have not found it with this isnād; see the foregoing, the numbers 754 and following.

   (3) In the printed edition: "the grammarians, the Basrans."

   (4) In the printed edition: "And a group rejected … the claim of those who state …".

   (5) The report 794 – is found in Ibn Kathīr 1:148, in al-Durr al-manthūr 1:63, and in al-Shawkānī 1:58.

   (6) In the printed edition: "he is the prophet ﷺ".

   (7) In the printed edition: "… from Me guidance: prophets and messengers …".

   (8) In the printed edition: "And if then there comes to you from Me, O assembly of those whom I have sent down …".

   (9) In the printed edition: "the report of them," with omission.

   (10) In the printed edition: "and a communication from Him concerning this to those".

   (11) In the printed edition: "… My clarification which I clarify by the tongues of My messengers".

   (12) The report 795 – I have not found it anywhere.

   (13) The report 796 – I have not found it anywhere.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى: قُلْنَا اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا قال أبو جعفر: وقد ذكرنا القول في تأويل قوله: " قلنا اهبطوا منها جميعًا " فيما مضى، (1) فلا حاجة بنا إلى إعادته، إذْ كان معناه في هذا الموضع، هو معناه في ذلك الموضع. 793- وقد حدثني يعقوب بن إبراهيم قال: حدثنا هشيم، قال: أخبرنا إسماعيل بن سالم، عن أبي صالح، في قوله : " اهبطوا منها جميعًا "، قال: آدم وحواء والحية وإبليس. (2) القول في تأويل قوله تعالى ذكره: فَإِمَّا يَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ مِنِّي هُدًى قال أبو جعفر: وتأويل قوله: " فإما يأتينكم "، فإنْ يَأتكم. و " ما " التي مع " إن " توكيدٌ للكلام، ولدخولها مع " إن " أدخلت النون المشددة في" يأتينَّكم "، تفرقةً بدخولها بين " ما " التي تأتي بمعنى توكيد الكلام - التي تسميها أهل العربية صلة وَحشوًا - وبين " ما " التي تأتي بمعنى " الذي"، فتؤذِن بدخولها في الفعل، أنّ" ما " التي مع " إن " التي بمعنى الجزاء، توكيد، وليست " ما " التي بمعنى " الذي". وقد قال بعض نحويي أهل البصرة (3) : إنّ " إمَّا " ، " إن " زيدت معها " ما "، &; 1-549 &; وصار الفعل الذي بعده بالنون الخفيفة أو الثقيلة، وقد يكون بغير نون. وإنما حسنت فيه النون لمّا دخلته " ما "، لأن " ما " نفيٌ، فهي مما ليس بواجب، وهي الحرف الذي ينفي الواجب، فحسنت فيه النون، نحو قولهم: " بعينٍ مَّا أرَينَّك "، حين أدخلت فيها " ما " حسنت النون فيما هاهنا. وقد أنكرت جماعة من أهل العربية دعوى قائل هذه المقالة (4) : أن " ما " التي مع " بعينٍ ما أرَينَّك " بمعنى الجحد، وزعموا أن ذلك بمعنى التوكيد للكلام. وقال آخرون: بل هو حشو في الكلام، ومعناها الحذف، وإنما معنى الكلام: " بعَين أراك "، وغير جائز أن يُجْعل مع الاختلاف فيه أصلا يُقاس عليه غيره. * * * القول في تأويل قوله تعالى ذكره: مِنِّي هُدًى فَمَنْ تَبِعَ هُدَايَ فَلا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ (38) قال أبو جعفر: والهدى، في هذا الموضع، البيان والرشاد. كما:- 794- حدثنا المثنى بن إبراهيم، قال: حدثنا آدم العسقلاني قال: حدثنا أبو جعفر، عن الربيع، عن أبي العالية، في قوله: " فإما يأتينكم مني هدًى " قال: الهدى، الأنبياءُ والرسل والبيان. (5) . فإن كان ما قال أبو العالية في ذلك كما قال، فالخطاب بقوله: اهْبِطُوا ، وإن كان لآدم وزوجته، فيجب أن يكون مرادًا به آدمُ وزوجتُه وذريتُهما. فيكون ذلك حينئذ نظير قوله: فَقَالَ لَهَا وَلِلأَرْضِ اِئْتِيَا طَوْعًا أَوْ كَرْهًا قَالَتَا أَتَيْنَا طَائِعِينَ [سورة فصلت: 11]، بمعنى أتينا بما فينا من الخلق طائعين، ونظيرَ قوله في قراءة &; 1-550 &; ابن مسعود: ( ربنا واجعلنا مسلمين لك ومن ذريتنا أمة مسلمة لك وأرهم مناسكهم ) [سورة البقرة: 128]، فجمع قبل أن تكون ذريةً، وهو في قراءتنا: وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا . وكما يقول القائل لآخر: " كأنك قد تزوجت وولد لك، وكثرتم وعززتم "، ونحو ذلك من الكلام. وإنما قلنا إن ذلك هو الواجب على التأويل الذي ذكرناه عن أبي العالية، لأنّ آدمَ كان هو النبيَّ أيام حياته بعد أن أُهبط إلى الأرض، (6) والرسولَ من الله جل ثناؤه إلى ولده. فغير جائز أن يكون معنيًّا -وهو الرسولُ صلى الله عليه وسلم- بقوله: " فإما يأتينّكم منّي هُدًى "، خطابًا له ولزوجته،" فإما يأتينكم مني أنبياءُ ورسل " (7) إلا على ما وصفتُ من التأويل. وقول أبي العالية في ذلك -وإن كان وجهًا من التأويل تحتمله الآية- فأقرب إلى الصواب منه عندي وأشبهُ بظاهر التلاوة، أن يكون تأويلها: فإما يأتينكم يا معشرَ من أُهبط إلى الأرض من سمائي (8) ، وهو آدمُ وزوجته وإبليس -كما قد ذكرنا قبل في تأويل الآية التي قبلها- إما يأتينكم منّي بيانٌ من أمري وطاعتي، ورشاد إلى سبيلي وديني، فمن اتبعه منكم فلا خوف عليهم ولا هم يحزنون، وإن كان قد سلف منهم قبل ذلك إليّ معصية وخلافٌ لأمري وطاعتي. يعرّفهم بذلك جل ثناؤه أنه التائبُ على من تاب إليه من ذنوبه، والرحيمُ لمن أناب إليه، كما وصف نفسه بقوله: إِنَّهُ هُوَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ . وذلك أن ظاهر الخطاب بذلك إنما هو للذين قال لهم جل ثناؤه: اهْبِطُوا مِنْهَا جَمِيعًا ، والذين خوطبوا به هم من سمّينا في قول الحجة من الصحابة والتابعين الذين قد قدّمنا الرواية عنهم. (9) . وذلك، وإن كان خطابًا من الله جل ذكره لمن أُهبط &; 1-551 &; حينئذٍ من السماء إلى الأرض، فهو سنّة الله في جميع خلقه، وتعريفٌ منه بذلك الذين أخبر عنهم في أول هذه السورة بما أخبر عنهم في قوله (10) إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا سَوَاءٌ عَلَيْهِمْ أَأَنْذَرْتَهُمْ أَمْ لَمْ تُنْذِرْهُمْ لا يُؤْمِنُونَ [سورة البقرة: 6]، وفي قوله: وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنْ يَقُولُ آمَنَّا بِاللَّهِ وَبِالْيَوْمِ الآخِرِ وَمَا هُمْ بِمُؤْمِنِينَ [سورة البقرة: 8]، وأنّ حكمه فيهم -إن تابوا إليه وأنابوا واتبعوا ما أتاهم من البيان من عند الله على لسان رسوله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم - أنهم عنده في الآخرة ممن لا خوفٌ عليهم ولا هم يحزنون، وأنهم إن هلكوا على كُفرهم وضلالتهم قبل الإنابة والتوبة، كانوا من أهل النار المخلَّدين فيها. وقوله: " فمن تَبعَ هُدَايَ"، يعني: فمن اتبع بَياني الذي آتيتُه على ألسن رُسُلي، أو مع رسلي (11) . كما:- 795- حدثنا به المثنى، قال: حدثنا آدم، قال: حدثنا أبو جعفر، عن الربيع، عن أبي العالية: " فمن تَبع هُدَاي"، يعني بياني. (12) . * * * وقوله: " فلا خوفٌ عليهم "، يعني فهم آمنون في أهوال القيامة من عقاب الله، غير خائفين عذابه، بما أطاعوا الله في الدنيا واتبعوا أمرَه وهُداه وسبيله، ولا هم يحزنون يومئذ على ما خلّفوا بعد وفاتهم في الدنيا. كما:- 796- حدثني يونس بن عبد الأعلى، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال قال ابن زيد: " لا خوفٌ عليهم "، يقول: لا خوف عليكم أمامكم (13) . وليس شيء أعظمَ في صدر الذي يموت ممّا بعد الموت. فأمّنهم منه وسَلاهم عن الدنيا فقال: " ولا هم يحزنون ". ---------- الهوامش : (1) انظر ص : 534 . (2) الأثر : 793- لم أجده بهذا الإسناد ، وانظر ، ما مضى الأرقام : 754 وما بعده . (3) في المطبوعة : "نحويي البصريين" . (4) في المطبوعة : "وقد أنكر جماعة . . . دعوى قائلي . . . " . (5) الأثر : 794- في ابن كثير 1 : 148 ، والدر المنثور 1 : 63 ، والشوكاني 1 : 58 . (6) في المطبوعة : "هو النبي صلى الله عليه وسلم" . (7) في المطبوعة : " . . . مني هدى أنبياء ورسل . . . " . (8) في المطبوعة : "فإما يأتينكم مني يا معشر من أهبطته . . . " . (9) في المطبوعة : "الرواية عنهم" بالحذف (10) في المطبوعة : "وتعريف منه بذلك للذين" . (11) في المطبوعة : " . . . بياني الذي أبينه على ألسن رسلي" . (12) الأثر : 795- لم أجده في مكان . (13) الأثر : 796- لم أجده في مكان .