Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the word of Allah, the Exalted: وَلَوْ أَنَّا أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا لَوْلا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولا فَنَتَّبِعَ آيَاتِكَ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ نَذِلَّ وَنَخْزَى (And had it been that We destroyed them with a punishment before him, they would surely have said: Our Lord, why did You not send to us a messenger, so that we might follow Your signs before we were humiliated and disgraced?) (134)

   Allah, exalted be His praise, says: And had it been that We destroyed these polytheists who reject this Qurʾān before We revealed it to them, and before We had sent a summoner to call them to what We have made obligatory upon them therein, with a punishment that We had sent down upon them because of their disbelief in Allah — then they would have said, on the Day of Resurrection, when they appeared before Us and We wished to punish them: 'Our Lord, why did You not send to us a messenger to call us to obedience to You, so that we might follow Your signs' — He says: so that we might follow Your proofs and Your indications and what You revealed to Your messenger of Your commands and prohibitions — 'before we were humiliated by Your punishment of us and were thereby disgraced.'

   As al-Faḍl ibn Isḥāq related to me, he said: Abū Qutayba Salm ibn Qutayba related to us, on the authority of Fuḍayl, on the authority of Marzūq, on the authority of ʿAṭiyya al-ʿAwfī, on the authority of Abū Saʿīd al-Khudrī, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, who said: 'Three groups of people will plead an excuse before Allah on the Day of Resurrection: the one who died in the period between two messengers (fatra), the one who had lost his reason, and the young child. The one who lost his reason will say: 'You did not give me a reason by which I could benefit.' The one who died in the fatra will say: 'No messenger and no prophet came to me, but had a messenger or a prophet of Yours come to me, I would have been the most obedient of Your creatures to You' — and he recited: لَوْلا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولا . And the young child will say: 'I was small and had no reason.' He said: Then a fire will be set up for them, and it will be said to them: 'Enter it.' Whoever is destined in the knowledge of Allah as fortunate enters it, and whoever is destined in the knowledge of Allah as wretched hesitates and refuses. He will say: 'Me you have disobeyed — how then would it be with My messengers had they come to you?' '.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَلَوْ أَنَّا أَهْلَكْنَاهُمْ بِعَذَابٍ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ لَقَالُوا رَبَّنَا لَوْلا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولا فَنَتَّبِعَ آيَاتِكَ مِنْ قَبْلِ أَنْ نَذِلَّ وَنَخْزَى (134) يقول تعالى ذكره: ولو أنا أهلكنا هؤلاء المشركين الذين يكذبون بهذا القرآن من قبل أن ننـزله عليهم، ومن قبل أن نبعث داعيا يدعوهم إلى ما فرضنا عليهم فيه بعذاب ننـزله بهم بكفرهم بالله، لقالوا يوم القيامة، إذ وردوا علينا، فأردنا عقابهم: ربنا هلا أرسلت إلينا رسولا يدعونا إلى طاعتك، فنتبع آياتك: يقول: فنتبع حجتك وأدلتك وما تنـزله عليه من أمرك ونهيك من قبل أن نذلّ بتعذيبك إيانا ونخزى به. كما حدثني الفضل بن إسحاق، قال: ثنا أبو قتيبة سلم بن قتيبة، عن فضيل عن مرزوق، عن عطية العوفي، عن أبي سعيد الخُدريّ، عن النبيّ صلى الله عليه وسلم قال : " يَحْتَجُّ عَلى اللهِ يَوْمَ القيامَةِ ثَلاثَةٌ: الهَالِكُ فِي الفَتْرَةِ، والمَغْلُوبُ على عَقْلِه، والصَّبيُّ الصَّغيرُ، فَيَقُولُ المَغْلُوبُ عَلى عَقْلِهِ: لَمْ تَجْعَلْ لي عَقْلا أنْتَفِع بِهِ، وَيَقُولُ الهَالِكُ فِي الفتْرَةِ: لَمْ يأْتِني رَسُولٌ وَلا نَبيٌّ، ولَوْ أتانِي لَكَ رَسُولٌ أوْ نَبيّ لكُنْتُ أطْوَعَ خَلْقِكَ لَكَ وقرأ: ( لَوْلا أَرْسَلْتَ إِلَيْنَا رَسُولا ) ويَقُولُ الصَّبِيُّ الصَّغِيرُ: كَنْتُ صَغِيرًا لا أعْقِلُ قال: فَتُرْفَعُ لَهُمْ نارٌ وَيُقالُ لَهُمْ: رِدُوها قال: فَيرِدُها مَنْ كَانَ فِي علْمِ اللهِ أنَّه سَعيدٌ، وَيَتَلَكَّأُ عَنْها مَنْ كانَ فِي عِلْمِ اللهِ أنَّهُ شَقِيّ، فَيَقُولُ: إيَّايَ عَصَيْتُمْ، فَكَيْفَ بِرُسُلي لَوْ أتَتْكُمْ؟ ".