Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَلَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مُوسَى بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ (92)

   ("And verily, Moses came to you with the clear proofs; then, after him, you took the calf [as a god], and you were wrongdoers.") (2:92)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means by His word: (And verily, Moses came to you with the clear proofs), that is: he came to you with the clear proofs (al-bayyināt) that pointed to his truthfulness and to the validity of his prophethood — such as the staff that turned into a visible serpent, and his hand which he brought forth white before the onlookers, and the splitting of the sea and the becoming of its bed into a dry path for him, and the locusts, the lice, and the frogs, and all the remaining signs that demonstrated his truthfulness and the validity of his prophethood.

   Allah called these only "clear proofs" (bayyināt), because for whoever looked at them they made clear that they were a miracle with which no human being is able to come, unless Allah has made that possible for him. It is merely the plural of "bayyina," as in "ṭayyiba and ṭayyibāt."

   * * *

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The meaning of the saying is: And verily, there came to you — O company of the Jews, the Children of Israel — Moses with the clear signs concerning his affair, his truthfulness, and the validity of his prophethood.

   * * *

   And His word: "then, after him, you took the calf [as a god], and you were wrongdoers." He — exalted be His praise — says to them: then you took the calf, after Moses, as a god. The "hāʾ" (the pronominal suffix) in His word "after him" refers to the mention of Moses. He said only "after Moses," because they took the calf [as a god] after Moses had left them, having departed to his Lord for the meeting appointed with him — in accordance with what we have already explained earlier in this book of ours.

   It is also permissible that the "hāʾ" in "after him" refers to the mention of the coming. The interpretation of the saying would then be: And verily, Moses came to you with the clear proofs; then you took the calf [as a god] after the coming of the clear proofs, and you were wrongdoers. As you say: "You came to me, and I detested it," by which one means: "I detested your coming."

   * * *

   As for His word: (and you were wrongdoers), by it He means that you did what you did in worshipping the calf, while that was not yours to do, and you worshipped something other than that which you ought to have worshipped. For worship is due to none but Allah. This is a rebuke from Allah to the Jews, and a reproach from Him to them, and an announcement from Him to them that when they did what they did — by taking the calf as a god, while it could bring about for them neither harm nor benefit, after they had known that their Lord is the Lord who performs such marvels and extraordinary deeds as those that He brought about at the hands of Moses — Allah's blessings be upon him — namely, matters that none of Allah's creatures is capable of, and which Pharaoh and his armies were not capable of, despite his seizure of power and his many followers, and despite the nearness of their time to what they witnessed of the wonders of Allah's wisdom —

   then they, despite the great distance in time between them and the time of Moses, are all the more swift to deny Muḥammad ﷺ and to deny what is in their books — those books which they claimed to believe in — concerning his description and his characteristics; and they are all the closer to denying that with which Moses came to them.

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   Footnotes:

   (48) In the printed edition it reads: "and the genuineness of his prophethood," but that is not part of what Abū Jaʿfar says; a similar alteration by the copyists has already occurred earlier, whereas in the old manuscript it stood as I have established it. See what has gone before, 2:318.

   (49) See what has gone before in this part, 2:318, 354.

   (50) See what has gone before in this part, 2:318, 319.

   (51) See what has gone before in this part, 2:318, 354.

   (52) See what has gone before in this part, 2:60–69.

   (53) The connection of this explained sentence is: "…and an announcement from Him to them that when they did what they did … then they are all the more swift to deny Muḥammad …," and all that stands between is successive parenthetical clauses, as is his habit.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَلَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مُوسَى بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ ثُمَّ اتَّخَذْتُمُ الْعِجْلَ مِنْ بَعْدِهِ وَأَنْتُمْ ظَالِمُونَ (92) قال أبو جعفر: يعني جل ثناؤه بقوله: (ولقد جاءكم موسى بالبينات)، أي جاءكم بالبينات الدالة على صدقه وصحة نبوته، (48) كالعصا التي تحولت ثعبانا مبينا, ويده التي &; 2-355 &; أخرجها بيضاء للناظرين. وفلق البحر ومصير أرضه له طريقا يبسا, والجراد والقمل والضفادع, وسائر الآيات التي بينت صدقه وصحة نبوته. (49) وإنما سماها الله " بينات " لتبينها للناظرين إليها أنها معجزة لا يقدر على أن يأتي بها بشر، إلا بتسخير الله ذلك له. وإنما هي جمع " بينة "، مثل " طيبة وطيبات ". (50) * * * قال أبو جعفر: ومعنى الكلام: ولقد جاءكم - يا معشر يهود بني إسرائيل - موسى بالآيات البينات على أمره وصدقه وصحة نبوته. (51) * * * وقوله: " ثم اتخذتم العجل من بعده وأنتم ظالمون " يقول جل ثناؤه لهم: ثم اتخذتم العجل من بعد موسى إلها. فالهاء التي في قوله: " من بعده "، من ذكر موسى. وإنما قال: من بعد موسى, لأنهم اتخذوا العجل من بعد أن فارقهم موسى ماضيا إلى ربه لموعده - على ما قد بينا فيما مضى من كتابنا هذا. (52) وقد يجوز أن تكون " الهاء " التي في" بعده " إلى ذكر المجيء. فيكون تأويل الكلام حينئذ: ولقد جاءكم موسى بالبينات، ثم اتخذتم العجل من بعد مجيء البينات وأنتم ظالمون. كما تقول: جئتني فكرهته، يعني كرهت مجيئك. * * * وأما قوله: (وأنتم ظالمون)، فإنه يعني بذلك أنكم فعلتم ما فعلتم من عبادة العجل وليس ذلك لكم، وعبدتم غير الذي كان ينبغي لكم أن تعبدوه. لأن العبادة لا تنبغي لغير الله. وهذا توبيخ من الله لليهود, وتعيير منه لهم, وإخبار منه لهم أنهم إذا كانوا فعلوا ما فعلوا - من اتخاذ العجل إلها وهو لا يملك لهم ضرا ولا نفعا, بعد الذي علموا أن ربهم هو الرب الذي يفعل من الأعاجيب وبدائع الأفعال &; 2-356 &; ما أجراه على يدي موسى صلوات الله عليه، من الأمور التي لا يقدر عليها أحد من خلق الله, ولم يقدر عليها فرعون وجنده مع بطشه وكثرة أتباعه, وقرب عهدهم بما عاينوا من عجائب حِكَم الله - فهم إلى تكذيب محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم وجحود ما في كتبهم = التي زعموا أنهم بها مؤمنون = من صفته ونعته، مع بعد ما بينهم وبين عهد موسى من المدة - أسرع (53) وإلى التكذيب بما جاءهم به موسى من ذلك أقرب. -------------- الهوامش : (48) في المطبوعة : "وحقية نبوته" ، وليست مما يقوله أبو جعفر ، وقد مضى آنفًا مثل هذا التبديل من النساخ ، وكان في المخطوطة العتيقة ، على مثل الذي أثبته ، وانظر ما سلف 2 : 318 . (49) انظر ما سلف في هذا الجزء 2 : 318 ، 354 . (50) انظر ما سلف في هذا الجزء 2 : 318 ، 319 . (51) انظر ما سلف في هذا الجزء 2 : 318 ، 354 . (52) انظر ما سلف في هذا الجزء 2 : 60 - 69 . (53) سياق هذه الجملة المفصلة : . . "وإخبار منه لهم أنهم إذا كانوا فعلوا ما فعلوا . . فهم إلى تكذيب محمد . . . أسرع" ، وكل ما بين ذلك فصول متتابعة كدأبه .