Tafseer of Taa-Haa · Taa-Haa · 20:64
So resolve upon your plan and then come [forward] in line. And he has succeeded today who overcomes."
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 reciters differed among themselves over the reading of His word إِنْ هَذَانِ لَسَاحِرَانِ . The majority of the reciters of the major cities read إِنَّ هَذَانِ with tašdīd (doubling) on "inna" and with alif in "hādhāni"; they said: we read it thus, as we have received it. Some of the language scholars of Baṣra said: "inn" here is a light (unstressed) variant carrying the meaning of the heavy (stressed) one, and it is a dialect of people who place the subject (noun) in the nominative and insert the lām to distinguish it from the "inn" that has the meaning of "not" (mā). Some of the Kūfan grammarians said: it has two explanations. The first is that it conforms to the dialect of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb and the tribes in their vicinity, who always use the alif for the dual in the nominative, accusative, and genitive. A man of the Asad tribe recited to me the following verse by some members of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb:
"He fell silent like the silent one — the venomous serpent (šujāʿ), and had the serpent found an opening for its fangs, it would have struck without hesitation."
He said: And from them was also transmitted: "This is the handwriting of my brother — I recognize it." He said: and even though this is rare, it is more grammatically correct, for the Arabs said: "Muslims" (muslimūna) and made the wāw dependent on the ḍamma, because it is indeclinable; then they said: "I saw the Muslims" (ra-aytu al-muslimīna) and made the yāʾ dependent on the kasra upon the mīm. They reasoned: when they saw that the yāʾ of the dual could not possibly be preceded by a kasra — for the letter before it remains with fatḥa — they let the alif follow. Thus they said: "rajulāni" (two men) in all cases. And the Arabs are agreed that the alif in "kilā al-rajulayn" (both) is preserved in the nominative, accusative, and genitive — and they are two — except for Banū Kinānah, who say: "ra-aytu kilī al-rajulayn" and "marartu bi-kilī al-rajulayn" — and this is rare and ugly; they held fast to the grammatical analogy. The second explanation is that one regards the alif in "hādhā" as a supporting letter that is not part of the root, hence not a letter of the verb. When a nūn was added to it in composition, the alif remained fixed in all cases, just as the Arabs added a nūn to "alladhī" (the one who) to indicate the plural and thus said "alladhīna" (those who) — in the nominative, accusative, and genitive — as they let "hādhāni" stand in all the case-forms. Grammatically one should say "alladhūna." Another grammarian said: that is attributable to a free, unbound case; were it in the accusative it would lead to expansion (inbisāṭ).
It was reported to me from Abū ʿUbayda Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā, who said: Abū ʿAmr, ʿĪsā ibn ʿUmar, and Yūnus said: "inna hādhayn lasāḥirāni" — that is the correct pronunciation — but they wrote "hādhāni" as they wished to write it. Abū al-Khaṭṭāb related that he heard among some members of Banū Kinānah and others that they placed the dual in the position of the genitive and accusative in the nominative. Bišr ibn Hilāl said: "inna" here has the meaning of the beginning of a sentence and affirmation — do you not notice that it operates upon what comes directly after it and does not operate upon what follows the second element, so that it leaves the predicate in the nominative and not in the accusative, just as it placed the subject in the accusative? The undertone of إِنْ هَذَانِ لَسَاحِرَانِ is that of two successive sentences, as though it were: "inn" — that is: yes — and then: "hādhāni sāḥirāni." Do you also not notice that they put the shared element in the nominative, as Ḍābiʾ said:
"Whoever has spent the night in Medina — / truly I and Qiyār are strangers there."
And his word:
"Truly the swords, morning and evening, / left Hawāzin behind like the broken horn of the one-horned beast."
He said: some also say: "Truly Allah and His angels send blessings upon the Prophet" — and put it in the nominative as a shared beginning, after which "inna" no longer operates upon it. He said: I have heard the eloquent among the pilgrims say: "Inna al-ḥamda wa-al-niʿmata laka wa-al-mulka, lā šarīka lak" — maintaining the accusative. He said: some read it with a light, unpronounced nūn upon "inn"; he said: that is possible because they inserted the lām at the beginning — and that is a separation. He said:
"Umm al-Ḥulays is an old woman of aged appearance."
He said: others claimed that this is not permissible, for when one softens the nūn of "inn," one must necessarily insert "illā" and say: "in hādhā illā sāḥirāni."
Imam al-Ṭabarī says: The correct reading of this, in our judgment, is إِنَّ with tašdīd upon the nūn, and "hādhāni" with alif — because of the consensus of the authoritative reciters upon this, and because it is also written thus in the form of the muṣḥaf. The linguistic explanation for this, when it is read thus, is the analogy to "alladhīna," to which one added a nūn to "alladhī" and left it in all case-forms upon the same form; likewise a nūn was added to "hādhā" and it was left in all case-forms upon the same form. This is the dialect of Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Kaʿb, Khathʿam, Zubayd, and the tribes that dwell beside them among the Yemenite tribes.
His word وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى — He says: the two of them take away your leaders and nobles. One says: he is the ṭarīqa (way, path) of his people and the naẓūra (representative) and naẓīra of his people — when he is the most eminent and noble person to whom one looks up. This is said both for the individual and for the group; sometimes it is also used in the plural: "these are the ṭarāʾiq (ways) of their people." Of this is the word of Allah, the Exalted and Blessed: كُنَّا طَرَائِقَ قِدَدًا (We were divided paths) — and "these are the naẓāʾir of their people."
His word الْمُثْلَى is the feminine form of al-amthal; for the feminine one says: "take the muthlā of those two." And for the masculine: "take the amthal of those two." The word "muthlā" stands in the singular, although it is an attribute and epithet for a group, just as one said لَهُ الأَسْمَاءُ الْحُسْنَى (His are the most beautiful names). It is also possible that "muthlā" stands as feminine because "ṭarīqa" (way, path) is feminine.
According to what we have said concerning the meaning of بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى , the exegetes have spoken.
Those who said that are mentioned:
ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : he said: your best ones — and they are the Banū Isrāʾīl.
Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : he said: the possessors of intellect, eminence, and noble descent.
Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : he said: the possessors of intellect, eminence, and noble descent.
Abū Kurayb and Abū al-Sāʾib related to us, they said: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : their ṭarīqa al-muthlā at that time were the Banū Isrāʾīl — they were the most numerous people, with the most possessions and children. The enemy of Allah said: the two of them wish to take them away for themselves.
Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : he said: the Banū Isrāʾīl.
Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : he said: the two of them take away the nobles of your people.
Others said: the meaning is: the two of them change your custom and religion upon which you are, derived from the expression "so-and-so has a good way of life (ṭarīqa)."
Those who said that are mentioned:
Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى : the two of them change what you now follow, they alter what you now are. And he recited ذَرُونِي أَقْتُلْ مُوسَى وَلْيَدْعُ رَبَّهُ إِنِّي أَخَافُ أَنْ يُبَدِّلَ دِينَكُمْ أَوْ أَنْ يُظْهِرَ فِي الأَرْضِ الْفَسَادَ (Let me kill Mūsā and let him call upon his Lord — I fear that he will change your religion or spread corruption in the land). He said: that is His word: وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى . He said: the way of life you now have is a good way; when it is changed, that good way is lost.
From ʿAlī it was transmitted concerning the meaning of وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى what al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Hušaym related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Isḥāq informed us, on the authority of al-Qāsim, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who said: the two of them turn the faces of the people toward themselves.
Imam al-Ṭabarī says: The view that Ibn Zayd expressed concerning وَيَذْهَبَا بِطَرِيقَتِكُمُ الْمُثْلَى does indeed have an interpretation that the linguistic context can bear, but the interpretation of the exegetes diverges from it — and therefore I do not consider it permissible to follow that view.