Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Allah, exalted is His praise, says: They did not believe in the wisdom of this Qurʾān, nor that it is from Allah, nor did they acknowledge that it is revelation which Allah revealed to Muḥammad ﷺ; rather, some of them said: these are the confused medleys of a dream that he saw in his sleep; others said: it is a fabrication that he himself contrived and invented; and yet others said: Muḥammad is a poet, and what he has brought you is poetry. (Fa-l-yaʾtinā) — they said: let Muḥammad bring us, if he is truthful in his claim that Allah has sent him as a messenger to us and that this which he recites to us is revelation that Allah has revealed to him — (bi-āyatin): that is to say: with a proof and an indication of the reality of what he says and claims, (kamā ursila l-awwalūn): that is to say: just as the earlier messengers brought that before him, of reviving the dead, healing the blind and lepers, and like the she-camel of Ṣāliḥ, and what is comparable to that among the miracles which none but Allah can perform and which only prophets and messengers bring about.

   And in the same manner as we have explained this, the people of interpretation 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 His word أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ : that is to say: the conduct of one who dreams — these are merely dreams that he saw. بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ شَاعِرٌ : all of this was among them. And His word فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِآيَةٍ كَمَا أُرْسِلَ الْأَوَّلُونَ : that is to say: just as ʿĪsā came with the clear proofs (bayyināt) and Mūsā with the proofs, and the messengers.

   ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ : he said: confusion.

   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 His word أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلَامٍ : he said: confused medleys thereof.

   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: the same.

   Allah, exalted is His praise, says: But they said — and the negation is not explicitly present in the text so as to be affirmed by "bal," but it concerns those who deny and reject, and because the hearer understands what the expression "bal" indicates regarding their rejection, this suffices without the mention of the explicit report about it, as we have explained.

   Show original Arabic

   يقول تعالى ذكره: ما صدّقوا بحكمة هذا القرآن، ولا أنه من عند الله، ولا أقرّوا بأنه وحي أوْحَى الله إلى محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم، بل قال بعضهم: هو أهاويل رؤيا رآها في النوم، وقال بعضهم: هو فرية واختلاق افتراه واختلقه من قبل نفسه، وقال بعضهم: بل محمد شاعر، وهذا الذي جاءكم به شعر (فَلْيَأْتِنا) به يقول: قالوا فليجئنا محمد إن كان صادقا في قوله، إن الله بعثه رسولا إلينا وإن هذا الذي يتلوه علينا وحي من الله أوحاه إلينا، (بآية) يقول: بحجة ودلالة على حقيقة ما يقول ويدّعي ( كَمَا أُرْسِلَ الأوَّلُونَ ) يقول: كما جاءت به الرسل الأوّلون من قَبْله من إحياء المَوتى، وإبراء الأكمه والأبرص وكناقة صالح، وما أشبه ذلك من المعجزات التي لا يقدر عليها إلا الله ولا يأتي بها إلا الأنبياء والرسل. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله ( أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلامٍ ) أي فعل حالم، إنما هي رؤيا رآها( بَلِ افْتَرَاهُ بَلْ هُوَ شَاعِرٌ ) كل هذا قد كان منهم. وقوله ( فَلْيَأْتِنَا بِآيَةٍ كَمَا أُرْسِلَ الأوَّلُونَ ) يقول: كما جاء عيسى بالبيِّنات وموسى بالبينات، والرسل. حدثني عليّ، قال: ثنا عبد الله، قال: ثني معاوية، عن عليّ، عن ابن عباس، قوله ( أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلامٍ ) قال: مشتبهة. حدثني محمد بن عمرو، قال: ثنا أبو عاصم، قال: ثنا عيسى، وحدثني الحارث، قال: ثنا الحسن، قال: ثنا ورقاء جميعا، عن ابن أبي نجيح، عن مجاهد، في قوله ( أَضْغَاثُ أَحْلامٍ ) قال أهاويلها. حدثنا القاسم، قال: ثنا الحسين، قال: ثني حجاج، عن ابن جريج، عن مجاهد، مثله. وقال تعالى ذكره: بل قالوا: ولا جحد في الكلام ظاهر فيحقق ببل، لأن الخبر عن أهل الجحود والتكذيب، فاجْتُزِي بمعرفة السامعين بما دلّ عليه قوله، بل من ذكر الخبر عنهم على ما قد بينا.