Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Allah, exalted is His praise, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Say, O Muḥammad, to those who say "let him bring us a sign, as the former ones were sent": I only warn you, O people, with the revelation of Allah which He reveals to me from His presence, and I thereby make you fear His punishment.

   As Bishr related to us: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word قُلْ إِنَّمَا أُنذِرُكُم بِالْوَحْيِ (Say: I only warn you with the revelation): that is to say, with this Qurʾān.

   As for His word وَلَا يَسْمَعُ الصُّمُّ الدُّعَاءَ — the reciters differed over its recitation. The majority of the reciters in the cities recited it: (walā yasmaʿu) with an open yāʾ in (yasmaʿu), in the sense that it is an act belonging to the deaf, the deaf being then those of Pharaoh. It has been transmitted from Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī that he recited (walā tusmiʿu) with a tāʾ and with ḍamma, in which case "the deaf" stands in the nominative, for (walā tusmiʿu) has no named agent; the meaning according to that recitation is then: Allah does not make the deaf hear the call.

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The correct recitation in our view is the one which the reciters of the cities maintain, on account of the agreement of the authoritative reciters thereon; what is meant by it is: the one who disbelieves in Allah does not listen with the hearing of his heart to the admonition contained in the revelation of Allah, so as to take a lesson from it and thereby come to his senses and turn away from the error in which he persists when it is recited to him and he is the one intended by it — rather he turns away from taking a lesson from it and reflecting upon it, like a deaf-mute who does not hear what is said to him so as to act upon it.

   And in the same manner as we have explained this, the people of exegesis spoke.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning وَلَا يَسْمَعُ الصُّمُّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا مَا يُنذَرُونَ : he said: the disbeliever is deaf to the Book of Allah — he does not hear it, derives no benefit from it, and does not understand it, as the believer and the people of faith (īmān) hear it.

   Show original Arabic

   يقول تعالى ذكره لنبيه محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم: قل يا محمد لهؤلاء القائلين فليأتنا بآية كما أرسل الأولون: إنما أنذركم أيها القوم بتنـزيل الله الذي يوحيه إلى من عنده، وأخوّفكم به بأسه. كما حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله ( قُلْ إِنَّمَا أُنْذِرُكُمْ بِالْوَحْيِ ) أي بهذا القرآن. وقوله ( وَلا يَسْمَعُ الصُّمُّ الدُّعَاءَ ) اختلفت القرّاء في قراءة ذلك، فقرأته عامة قرّاء الأمصار: (ولا يسمع بفتح الياء من ( يَسْمَعُ) بمعنى أنه فعل للصمّ، والصمّ حينئذ من فرعون ، ورُوي عن أبي عبد الرحمن السلمي أنه كان يقرأ ( ولا تُسْمعُ ) بالتاء وضمها، فالصمّ على هذه القراءة مرفوعة، لأن قوله ( ولا تُسْمِعُ ) لم يسمّ فاعله، ومعناه على هذه القراءة: ولا يسمع الله الصمّ الدعاء. قال أبو جعفر: والصواب من القراءة عندنا في ذلك ما عليه قرّاء الأمصار لإجماع الحجة من القرّاء عليه، ومعنى ذلك: ولا يصغي الكافر بالله بسمع قلبه إلى تذكر ما في وحي الله من المواعظ والذكر، فيتذكر به ويعتبر، فينـزجر عما هو عليه مقيم من ضلاله إذا تُلي عليه وأُريد به، ولكنه يعرض عن الاعتبار به والتفكر فيه، فعل الأصمّ الذي لا يسمع ما يقال له فيعمل به. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك، قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة ( وَلا يَسْمَعُ الصُّمُّ الدُّعَاءَ إِذَا مَا يُنْذَرُونَ ) يقول: إن الكافر قد صمّ عن كتاب الله لا يسمعه، ولا ينتفع به ولا يعقله، كما يسمعه المؤمن وأهل الإيمان.