Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:48
And fear a Day when no soul will suffice for another soul at all, nor will intercession be accepted from it, nor will compensation be taken from it, nor will they be aided.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا لا تَجْزِي نَفْسٌ عَنْ نَفْسٍ شَيْئًا ("And fear a day on which no soul can recompense anything for another soul")
Abū Jaʿfar said: The explanation of His word (and fear a day on which no soul can recompense anything for another soul) is: and fear a day on which no soul can recompense anything for another soul. It is also permissible that its explanation be: and fear a day which no soul can recompense anything for another soul, as the poet of the rajaz said:
"Already the morning draught has been brought — peace be upon her who brought it — with a liver mixed with a hump of meat, at an hour at which the food is withheld." (132)
And he means: on which one withholds from the food. So he omitted the "hāʾ" that refers back to "the day," because here there is a sufficient indication — through what is apparent in His word (and fear a day, no soul can recompense), which points to what is omitted — so that one may state it without what is omitted, since its meaning is known.
Some grammarians have claimed that in this place it is not permissible that the omitted element be anything other than the "hāʾ." Others said: it is not permissible that the omitted element be anything other than "in it" (fīhi). We, however, have demonstrated in what preceded that it is permissible to omit everything that the apparent points to. (133)
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As for the meaning in His word (and fear a day on which no soul can recompense anything for another soul): this is a warning from Allah — exalted be His mention — to His servants whom He addressed with this verse, against His punishment that may befall them on the Day of Resurrection. That is the day on which no soul can recompense anything for another soul, on which no father can recompense anything for his child, and no child can recompense anything for his father. (134)
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As for the explanation of His word "no soul can recompense" (lā tajzī nafs): by it is meant "it does not avail," as:
874 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related this to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "And fear a day on which no soul can recompense" — as for "can recompense" (tajzī): that means "to avail."
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The root meaning of "al-jazāʾ" — in the language of the Arabs — is satisfaction and recompense. One says: "jazaytuhu qarḍahu wa-daynahu ajzīhi jazāʾan," in the sense of: "I satisfied for him his debt." From this also comes the saying: "may Allah recompense so-and-so on my behalf with good or evil," in the sense of: "may He reward him on my behalf and satisfy on my behalf what I owe him for his deed which he previously rendered to me." Some scholars of the language of the Arabs have said: "one says: ajzaytu ʿanhu kadhā," when you help him with it, and "jazaytu ʿanka fulānan," when you reward him on your behalf.
Others among them said: no, "jazaytu ʿanka" means "I satisfied on your behalf," and "ajzaytu" means "I did sufficiently." Still others among them said: no, both have one and the same meaning. One says: "jazat ʿanka shātun wa-ajzat" (a sheep suffices for you), and "jazā ʿanka dirhamun wa-ajzā" (a dirham suffices for you), and "lā tajzī ʿanka shātun wa-lā tujzi" — with one and the same meaning, except that they mentioned that "jazat ʿanka" and "lā tujzi ʿanka" are from the language of the people of the Ḥijāz, and that "ajzaʾa and tujziʾu" are from the language of others. And they claimed that specifically the tribe of Tamīm among the Arab tribes says: "ajzaʾat ʿanka shātun, wa-hiya tujziʾu ʿanka." Still others claimed that "jazā" without hamza means "to satisfy," and "ajzaʾa" with hamza means "to reward/recompense." (135) The meaning of the words is thus: and fear a day on which no soul can satisfy anything for another soul, nor provide it any benefit.
If someone were to ask us: and what is the meaning of "no soul can satisfy for another soul, nor provide it any benefit"?
Then it is said: it is that one of us today sometimes satisfies on behalf of his child, his father, or a friend or relative the latter's debt. But in the hereafter it is so — according to what the reports have informed us about that — that the man would find it pleasing that a right be established in his favor against his child or father. (136) That is because the satisfying of rights on the Day of Resurrection takes place by means of good and evil deeds, as:
875 – Abū Kurayb and Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī related to us, they said: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Abū Khālid al-Dālānī Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of Zayd ibn Abī Unaysa, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Maqburī, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "May Allah be merciful to a servant who has committed a wrong against his brother regarding his honor — Abū Kurayb said in his narration: or against his property or standing — and who asks him for remission for it before it is taken from him, while there is no dīnār and no dirham there. For if he has good deeds, they will take from his good deeds, and if he has no good deeds, they will load upon him some of their evil deeds." (137)
876 – Abū ʿUthmān al-Muqaddamī related to us, saying: al-Farwī related to us, saying: Mālik related to us, on the authority of al-Maqburī, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ with a similar narration. (138)
877 – Khallād ibn Aslam related to us, saying: Abū Hammām al-Ahwāzī related to us, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd informed us, on the authority of Saʿīd, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ with a similar narration. (139)
878 – Mūsā ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to us, saying: Nuʿaym ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Darāwardī related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Abī ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Let none of you die while he has a debt outstanding, for there is no dīnār and no dirham there; there they divide only the good and the evil deeds" — and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ gestured with his hand to the right and to the left. (140)
879 – Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, saying: Sālim ibn Qādim related to us, saying: Abū Muʿāwiya Hāshim ibn ʿĪsā related to us, saying: al-Ḥārith ibn Muslim informed me, on the authority of al-Zuhrī, on the authority of Anas ibn Mālik, on the authority of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, with something similar to the narration of Abū Hurayra. (141)
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Abū Jaʿfar said: That, then, is the meaning of His word — exalted be His praise —: (no soul can recompense anything for another soul). By it is meant: that it cannot satisfy anything for it of what it owed to another, for the satisfying there takes place by means of the good and evil deeds, as we have described. And how would anyone satisfy for another what the latter owes, while it would please him that a right be established in his favor against his child or father, so that it be taken from him and not remitted to him? (142)
Some grammarians of Basra have claimed that the meaning of His word (no soul can recompense anything for another soul) is: it cannot take its place. But this is a statement whose falsity the apparent of the Qurʾān testifies to. (143) That is because in the language of the Arabs it is incomprehensible that someone says: "mā aghnayta ʿannī shayʾan" (you have availed me nothing), in the sense of: "you have not benefited me by taking my place." Rather, when they wish to report about a thing that it does not recompense for another thing, they say: "lā yajzī hādhā min hādhā" (this does not recompense for that), and they do not deem it permissible to say: "lā yajzī hādhā min hādhā shayʾan."
If, then, the explanation of His word (no soul can recompense anything for another soul) were what the one whose statement we have reproduced said, then He would have said: (and fear a day on which no soul can recompense for another soul), as one says "lā tajzī nafsun min nafsin," and He would not have said: "no soul can recompense anything for another soul." In the correct form of the revelation with His word "no soul can recompense anything for another soul" lies the clearest indication of the correctness of what we have said and of the falsity of the statement of the one whose word we have mentioned concerning that. (144)
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The discourse on the explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلا يُقْبَلُ مِنْهَا شَفَاعَةٌ ("and on which no intercession is accepted from it")
Abū Jaʿfar said: "al-Shafāʿa" (intercession) is a verbal noun from a man's saying: "shafaʿa lī fulānun ilā fulānin shafāʿatan" (so-and-so interceded for me with so-and-so). (145) That is his request to him to fulfill a need. The intercessor is called "shafīʿ" and "shāfiʿ" only because he doubles the one who asks for intercession, so that the latter becomes a pair through him. (146) For the one in need was — before asking for intercession by him for his need — alone (single), and his companion became for him an intercessor in that matter, and the latter's request for him and for his need became "intercession." For this reason also the pre-emptor (shafīʿ) of a house or a plot of land is called "shafīʿ," because the seller becomes a pair through him. (147)
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The explanation of the verse is thus: and fear a day on which no soul can satisfy for another soul a right that it owes to Allah — exalted be His praise —, nor to another, and on which Allah accepts from it no intercession of any intercessor, such that He would remit to it what it owes of right.
It has been said: Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — addressed the people to whom this verse pertains with what He addressed them therein, because they belonged to the Jews of the Banū Isrāʾīl. They used to say: "We are the sons of Allah and His beloved ones and the children of His prophets, and our forefathers will intercede for us with Him." Then Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — informed them that no soul can recompense anything for another soul on the Day of Resurrection, and that no one's intercession will be accepted from it, until every rightholder has been fully satisfied his right from it, as:
880 – ʿAbbās ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Ḥajjāj ibn Naṣīr related to us, on the authority of Shuʿba, on the authority of al-ʿAwwām ibn Murājim — a man of the Qays ibn Thaʿlaba —, on the authority of Abū ʿUthmān al-Nahdī, on the authority of ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān: that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Verily the hornless sheep shall take retribution from the horned sheep on the Day of Resurrection, as Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He — said: وَنَضَعُ الْمَوَازِينَ الْقِسْطَ لِيَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ فَلا تُظْلَمُ نَفْسٌ شَيْئًا (And We place the just scales for the Day of Resurrection, so that no soul is wronged in anything...) [al-Anbiyāʾ: 47], the verse." (148)
Thus Allah — exalted be His mention — deprived them of hope in that which they had hoped for themselves, namely salvation from the punishment of Allah — despite their denial of the truth which they had known, and their transgression of the command of Allah regarding following Muḥammad ﷺ and what he had brought them from Him — through the intercession of their forefathers and of all other people. And He informed them that nothing would avail them with Him except repentance to Him for their disbelief (kufr) and the return from their error. And He made of what He had established over them as a rule concerning that an example for everyone who walks the same path as they, so that no apostate (mulḥid) would harbor hope in the mercy of Allah. (149)
And this verse, even though its wording in recitation is general, yet what is intended by it in the explanation is specific, on account of the mutually supporting reports from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that he said: "My intercession is for the committers of grave sins among my community," and that he said: "There is no prophet but he has been granted an answered supplication, and I have reserved my answered supplication as intercession for my community, and it will reach — if Allah wills — those among them who associate nothing with Allah as a partner (shirk)." (150)
It has thus become clear from this that Allah — exalted be His praise — may remit for His believing servants — through the intercession of our Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ for them — much of the punishment for their crimes between them and Him, (151) and that His word (and no intercession is accepted from it) applies only to whoever dies in his disbelief without repenting to Allah — Mighty and Exalted is He. This is not the place to speak at length about intercession, the promise, and the threat, so as to exhaust therein the arguments fully; we shall, in their proper places, bring concerning that what is sufficient, if Allah wills.
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The discourse on the explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلا يُؤْخَذُ مِنْهَا عَدْلٌ ("and on which no ransom is taken from it")
Abū Jaʿfar said: "al-ʿAdl" — in the language of the Arabs, with fatḥa on the ʿayn — means: the ransom (al-fidya), as:
881 – al-Muthannā ibn Ibrāhīm related this 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: (and no ʿadl is taken from it) he said: that means: ransom.
882 – Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād related to us, saying: Asbāṭ ibn Naṣr related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (and no ʿadl is taken from it) as for ʿadl: that is something that equals it, derived from equating. He says: even if it came with the earth full of gold to ransom itself with it, it would not be accepted from it.
883 – al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning His word: (and no ʿadl is taken from it) he said: even if it came with everything, it would not be accepted from it.
884 – al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Mujāhid said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: (and no ʿadl is taken from it) he said: badal (substitution), and the badal is the ransom.
885 – Yūnus ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said: (and no ʿadl is taken from it) he said: even if it possessed the earth full of gold, it would not be accepted from it as ransom. He said: and even if it came with everything, it would not be accepted from it.
886 – And Najīḥ ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: ʿAlī ibn Ḥakīm related to us, saying: Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Malāʾī, on the authority of a man of the Banū Umayya — of the people of Syria, of whom he spoke well —, who said: it was said: "O Messenger of Allah, what is the ʿadl?" He said: "The ʿadl is the ransom." (152)
The ransom for a thing, and its substitute, is called "ʿadl" only on account of the fact that it weighs against it while being of another kind, and because it becomes an equal of it from the standpoint of recompense, not from the standpoint of correspondence in form and shape, as He — exalted be His praise — said: وَإِنْ تَعْدِلْ كُلَّ عَدْلٍ لا يُؤْخَذْ مِنْهَا (And though it should offer every ransom, it would not be taken from it) [al-Anʿām: 70], in the sense of: and though it should give every ransom, it would not be taken from it. (153) From this one says: "this is its ʿadl and its ʿadīl" (equivalent). As for "al-ʿidl" with kasra on the ʿayn: that is equal to a load carried on the back. From this one says: "ʿindī ghulāmun ʿidlu ghulāmika, wa-shātun ʿidlu shātika" (I have a slave who is the counterpart of your slave, and a sheep that is the counterpart of your sheep) — with kasra on the ʿayn — when it concerns a slave that weighs against a slave, and a sheep that weighs against a sheep. (154) So it is also with every equal of a thing from the same kind. But when one wishes to express that one possesses its value from another kind, then one places fatḥa on the ʿayn and says: "ʿindī ʿadlu shātika min al-darāhim" (I have the equivalent value of your sheep in dirhams). It has been transmitted from some Arabs that they pronounce the ʿayn with kasra in "al-ʿidl" that has the meaning of ransom, on account of the fact that it weighs against that against which it weighs from the standpoint of recompense; and that is due to the close kinship of the meaning of al-ʿadl and al-ʿidl among them. As for the singular of "al-aʿdāl" (the loads), however, in it only "ʿidl" with kasra on the ʿayn has been heard. (155)
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The discourse on the explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلا هُمْ يُنْصَرُونَ (48) ("and they will not be helped")
The explanation of His word (and they will not be helped) means: that on that day no helper will help them, just as no intercessor will intercede for them, and no ransom nor ransom-payment will be accepted from them. There favoritism will have been annulled, and bribes and intercessions will have vanished; and among the people mutual help and support will have been abolished. (156) The judgment will belong to the Just, the Almighty, with whom intercessors and helpers avail nothing, and who recompenses the evil deed with its like and recompenses the good deed manifoldly. That is comparable to His word — exalted be His praise —: وَقِفُوهُمْ إِنَّهُمْ مَسْئُولُونَ * مَا لَكُمْ لا تَنَاصَرُونَ * بَلْ هُمُ الْيَوْمَ مُسْتَسْلِمُونَ (And halt them, for they are to be questioned. What is with you that you do not help one another? Nay, on this day they surrender) [al-Ṣāffāt: 24-26]. And Ibn ʿAbbās used to say concerning the meaning of لا تَنَاصَرُونَ (you do not help one another), what:
887 – It was related to me on the authority of al-Minjāb, saying: Bishr ibn ʿUmāra related to us, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: مَا لَكُمْ لا تَنَاصَرُونَ (what is with you that you do not help one another) — what is with you that you do not protect one another against Us? How far is that! That is not available to you today! (157)
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Some have said concerning the meaning of His word (and they will not be helped): they have on that day no helper from Allah who comes to their aid against Allah when He punishes them. And it has been said: and they will not be helped by means of request for them, intercession, and ransom.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: The first statement is preferable in the explanation of the verse, on account of what we have described, namely that Allah — exalted be His praise — only let those addressed by this verse know that the Day of Resurrection is a day on which there is no ransom — for whoever of His creatures deserves His punishment —, nor intercession thereon, nor a helper for him. That is because all this existed for them in this worldly life, and He informed them that this is absent on the Day of Resurrection, and that they have no access to it.
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Footnotes:
(132) al-Kāmil 1:22, and Amālī Ibn al-Shajarī 1:6, 186 and elsewhere. "Ṣabbaḥa al-qawma" means: he gave them the morning draught (al-ṣabūḥ) to drink, that is what is drunk in the morning of milk or wine. He prays for her for good, on account of the excellence of what she fed him during a hunger that he endured.
(133) See 1:139-141, 179, and see Lisān al-ʿArab (j-z-y).
(134) An allusion to a verse of Sūrat Luqmān: 33.
(135) See what is stated about that in Lisān al-ʿArab (j-z-y); what al-Ṭabarī has adduced is more complete and clearer.
(136) "Yaridu ʿalayhi ḥaqq": it became obligatory and binding. "Yaridu lī kadhā wa-kadhā": that is to say: it is established. One says: "lī ʿalayhi alfun bāridun," that is to say: established.
(137) Narration 875 – This is a correct (ṣaḥīḥ) isnād. Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Azdī: occurred earlier under no. 423, and in the annotation there "al-Tājī" was noted, which is an error; correct is "al-Nājī" with a nūn. And "al-Azdī" with a zāy; in the printed edition it stands here as "al-Awdī" with a wāw, which is incorrect. Al-Muḥāribī: that is ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad, occurred earlier under no. 221. Abū Khālid al-Dālānī, Yazīd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān: he has been spoken of (critically), but the truth is that he is reliable (thiqa); Abū Ḥātim and others deemed him reliable, and al-Bukhārī treated him in al-Kabīr 4/2/346-347, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/277, without their mentioning any criticism (jarḥ) of him. He has been treated in al-Tahdhīb among the agnomens (al-kunā), on account of disagreement over the name of his father, but al-Tirmidhī and al-Ṭabarī preferred what we have mentioned, and so too did al-Bukhārī and Ibn Abī Ḥātim prefer it. "Al-Dālānī" stands in the printed edition here as "al-Dūlābī," which is incorrect; we have corrected it on the basis of the manuscript.
The narration was transmitted by al-Tirmidhī 3:292, via Hannād and Naṣr ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, both via al-Muḥāribī, with this isnād, after which he said: "This is a good, correct (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ) narration. And Mālik ibn Anas transmitted it via Saʿīd al-Maqburī, via Abū Hurayra, via the Prophet ﷺ, in similar fashion."
His word in the middle of the narration "Abū Kurayb said" stands in the printed edition as "Abū Bakr said," which is a clear error; the correct reading is from the manuscript.
(138) Narration 876 – This is the preceding narration, in the same meaning, but via the narration of Mālik. It is the narration to which we have cited al-Tirmidhī's reference. Abū ʿUthmān al-Muqaddamī — with ḍamma on the mīm, fatḥa on the qāf, and doubled, fatḥa-ed undotted dāl: that is Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr, traced back to "Muqaddam," one of his forefathers. He is reliable (thiqa); Ibn Abī Ḥātim treated him 1/1/73 and said: "I heard from him at Mecca, and he is truthful (ṣadūq)"; al-Samʿānī treated him in al-Ansāb, folio 539, and al-Khaṭīb in Tārīkh Baghdād 4:398-399; he died in the year 264. Al-Farwī: with fatḥa on the fāʾ and sukūn on the rāʾ, traced back to one of his forefathers; in the printed edition it stands with a qāf in place of the fāʾ, which is a scribal slip. It is: Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Farwa, one of the transmitters of Mālik, and one of the teachers of al-Bukhārī; he is reliable, although some have spoken of him without proof. We have preferred his reliability in Sharḥ al-Musnad: 7425. The narration via Mālik: transmitted by al-Bukhārī 11:343-344 (Fatḥ al-Bārī), via Ismāʿīl — that is Ibn Abī Uways, the son of Mālik's sister and his kinsman — via Mālik. And Aḥmad transmitted it in al-Musnad: 9613 (2:435, Ḥalabī edition), via Mālik and Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, both via al-Maqburī. He also transmitted it: 10580 (2:506), via Ibn Abī Dhiʾb. And al-Bukhārī also transmitted it 5:73, via Ibn Abī Dhiʾb. Its beginning in these narrations reads: "Whoever has committed a wrong against [another]...," after which he mentions it similarly, in the same meaning.
(139) Narration 877 – This is the preceding narration, in similar fashion, via another route. Abū Hammām al-Ahwāzī: that is Muḥammad ibn al-Zibriqān, and he is reliable (thiqa); al-Bukhārī treated him in al-Kabīr 1/1/87 and said: "well-known for his narration"; Ibn Abī Ḥātim 3/2/260; and the two Shaykhs (al-Bukhārī and Muslim) transmitted from him in the two Ṣaḥīḥs. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd: I prefer that it be "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd ibn Abī Hind," and he is reliable. It is unlikely that it be "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd al-Maqburī," for the structure of the isnād opposes that; if it were he, it would be "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd, via his father." But since it is "ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd, via Saʿīd," it appears that he is not Ibn Saʿīd al-Maqburī. The narration is in any case correct (ṣaḥīḥ), on the basis of the preceding isnāds.
(140) Narration 878 – This is a correct (ṣaḥīḥ), connected isnād via Ibn ʿAbbās. I have not found it in the Musnad of Imam Aḥmad, nor in the Six Books, nor in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid, and al-Tirmidhī did not refer to it in his statement "and in this chapter." It is thus an extra valuable addition, derived from the narration of Abū Jaʿfar, may Allah be merciful to him.
(141) Narration 879 – This is an isnād in which there is a problem that I have not been able to resolve. As for "Salm ibn Qādim": that is "Salm" with fatḥa on the sīn and sukūn on the lām. In the printed edition it stands here as "Sālim" with an alif after the sīn, which is incorrect. This Salm: a reliable (thiqa) Baghdadi, who transmits from Sufyān ibn ʿUyayna, Baqiyya ibn al-Walīd and others. Ibn Abī Ḥātim treated him 2/1/268, and al-Khaṭīb in Tārīkh Baghdād 9:145-146. He has a brief treatment in Lisān al-Mīzān 3:65.
And Abū Muʿāwiya Hāshim ibn ʿĪsā: that is Hāshim ibn Abī Hurayra al-Ḥimṣī, known through the tracing back to the agnomen of his father, namely "Hāshim ibn Abī Hurayra." Ibn Abī Ḥātim treated him 4/2/105, without mentioning any criticism (jarḥ) of him. He has an uncorrected treatment in Lisān al-Mīzān 6:184, in which the name of the transmitter from him is given as "Muslim ibn Qādim," which is a scribal slip.
As for the problem in the isnād, that lies in "al-Ḥārith ibn Muslim," who here transmits from al-Zuhrī. I do not know who that is, nor what its correctness is. Perhaps there is a scribal slip in it that I have not been able to ascertain. Furthermore, I have never found this narration as a narration of Anas, after long searching and investigation. There is in al-Mustadrak of al-Ḥākim 4:576 another narration of Anas, via another route, in which there is something of this meaning; its isnād is weak (ḍaʿīf).
(142) In the printed edition: "fa-yaʾkhudhuhu minhu," whereas what stands in the manuscript is more eloquent. "Tajāfā lahu ʿan al-shayʾ" means: he turned away from it and did not keep pursuing it insistently, and remitted it to him.
(143) See what passed earlier about the meaning of "ẓāhir" 1, 72, note: 2, and in this part 2:15.
(144) This belongs to the excellent expositions on the meanings of the language; it is a method of investigation by which al-Ṭabarī preceded everyone who has spoken about distinguishing between the meanings of Arabic usage.
(145) In the manuscript: "shafaʿa lī fulānun shafāʿatan," with omission.
(146) In the printed edition: "al-mustashfaʿ lahu," which is incorrect, as the continuation of the text shows.
(147) Ibn Qutayba said in his explanation of "al-shufʿa": "In the time of the Jāhiliyya, when a man wished to sell a house, a man would come to him who interceded with him concerning what he was selling, whereupon he accepted him as an intercessor and gave him more right to the sold item than one who was more remote as to the occasion. For this reason it was called 'shufʿa,' and the one who requested it 'shafīʿ.'" And the shufʿa of a house or plot of land: that it is awarded to its holder (Lisān: sh-f-ʿ).
(148) Narration 880 – ʿAbbās ibn Abī Ṭālib: that is ʿAbbās ibn Jaʿfar ibn al-Zibriqān al-Baghdādī, and he is reliable (thiqa), treated in al-Tahdhīb; Ibn Abī Ḥātim treated him 3/1/215, and al-Khaṭīb in Tārīkh Baghdād 12:411-412. "Al-ʿAwwām ibn Murājim": with a rāʾ and a jīm; in the sources it stands "Muzāḥim" with a zāy and a ḥāʾ, which is a scribal slip.
The narration is weak of isnād, on account of Ḥajjāj ibn Naṣīr al-Fasāṭīṭī. ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad transmitted it in al-Zawāʾid ʿalā al-Musnad: 520, via ʿAbbās ibn Muḥammad and Abū Yaḥyā al-Bazzār, both via Ḥajjāj ibn Naṣīr. We have spoken at length there about his weakness.
As for its meaning: that is correct and established, from the narration of Abū Hurayra, which Aḥmad transmitted in al-Musnad: 7203. And Muslim and al-Tirmidhī transmitted it, and the latter declared it correct. "Al-jammāʾ": the sheep without a horn. "Al-qarnāʾ": the sheep with a horn.
(149) In the printed edition: "fī raḥmat Allāh," which is not the best reading.
(150) The narration "My intercession is for the committers of grave sins among my community": thus al-Ṭabarī mentioned it without isnād. It is a correct (ṣaḥīḥ) narration; al-Suyūṭī mentioned it in al-Jāmiʿ al-Ṣaghīr and attributed it to Aḥmad, Abū Dāwūd, al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḥākim — via Anas; and to al-Tirmidhī, Ibn Māja, Ibn Ḥibbān and al-Ḥākim — via Jābir. See the large commentary of al-Munāwī, no. 4892 (vol. 4, p. 163).
And the narration "There is no prophet but..." etc.: this too al-Ṭabarī brought without isnād. Its meaning is established and correct, from the narration of Anas ibn Mālik, transmitted by al-Bukhārī and Muslim. See al-Targhīb wa-al-Tarhīb 4:213.
(151) In the printed edition: "ijrāmihim baynahu wa-baynahum," whereas what stands in the manuscript is the correct and excellent reading.
(152) Narration 886 – Najīḥ ibn Ibrāhīm: I have found, in all the reference works at my disposal, nothing other than the treatment of "Najīḥ ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Kirmānī," in Lisān al-Mīzān 6:149, and that he is a reliable (thiqa) Kufan, who transmits from Abū Nuʿaym; he thus belongs to the generation of the teachers of al-Ṭabarī. It is most likely that he is the one. ʿAlī ibn Ḥakīm — with fatḥa on the ḥāʾ — is al-Awdī al-Kūfī, and he is reliable, one of the teachers of al-Bukhārī and Muslim. Ḥumayd ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Ḥumayd al-Ruʾāsī, and his father: both reliable. ʿAmr ibn Qays al-Malāʾī — with ḍamma on the mīm and light lām — al-Kūfī: reliable, from the followers of the tābiʿūn. He transmitted this narration in elevated form (marfūʿ), via a man whose name he left unmentioned and of whom he spoke well; it is most likely that he was a tābiʿī. The isnād is thus mursal or munqaṭiʿ, and therefore weak (ḍaʿīf). I have not found it except in al-Ṭabarī; Ibn Kathīr took it from him 1:161, and al-Suyūṭī 1:68.
(153) The sentence in the explanation of the verse is missing in the manuscript.
(154) This sentence stands in the manuscript as follows: "yuqālu min dhālika: ʿindī ghulāmun ʿadlu ghulāman wa-shātun ʿadlu shātan," and he sufficed with this portion of it, with the clear error therein.
(155) This too is an excellent exposition, which one rarely finds in any of the linguistic works.
(156) In the printed edition: "wa-irtafaʿa min al-qawmi," which is incorrect. "Irtafaʿa" here means: it disappeared and ceased, figuratively derived from "al-irtifāʿ," which is rising/loftiness.
(157) Narration 887 – He did not mention it in the explanation of the verse from Sūrat al-Ṣāffāt; see (23:32, Būlāq edition).
