Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   He, exalted be His remembrance, says: You, then — you who say to your Lord: رَبَّنَا غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا وَكُنَّا قَوْمًا ضَالِّينَ (our Lord, our wretchedness overcame us and we were a people gone astray) — in the worldly life, and who therein said: رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ (our Lord, we believe, so forgive us and have mercy upon us, for You are the best of the merciful) — you made them an object of mockery (sukhriyan). The pronoun "hum" in فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ (you took them) refers back to the group mentioned earlier.

   The Qurʾān reciters differed in the reading of the word سِخْرِيًّا (sikhriyyan). Some reciters of the Ḥijāz and a portion of the people of Basra and Kūfa read it as سِخْرِيًّا with a kasra under the sīn, and they interpreted this kasra such that its meaning is "mockery"; and they said: when it is read with a ḍamma, the word means forced labor and subjugation. The thrust of the text according to their view is therefore: you took those who believe in Me in the worldly life as an object of mockery and sport, you mocked them, until they made you forget the remembrance of Me. The majority of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa, however, read it as سُخْرِيًّا with a ḍamma under the sīn, and they said: the meaning of the word is the same with the ḍamma and with the kasra. Some transmit, on the basis of what they heard from the Arabs: lijjiyy (لِجِّيّ) and lujjiyy (لُجِّيّ), and dirriyy (دِرِيّ) and durriyy (دُرِيّ), relating to "the pearl" (al-durr), and likewise kirsiyy (كِرْسِيّ) and kursiyy (كُرْسِيّ); and they said that this belongs to the same phenomenon as their usage of both al-ʿiṣiyy (العِصِيّ) with kasra under the ʿayn and al-ʿuṣiyy (العُصِيّ) with ḍamma as the plural of al-ʿaṣā (the staff). They said: we preferred the ḍamma in al-sukhriyy because that is the more eloquent of the two dialectal variants.

   The correct judgment in this matter is that these are two well-known readings and two recognized dialectal variants with one and the same meaning, and that scholars among the Qurʾān reciters have read each of the two; whichever of the two readings the reciter chooses, he is correct. For there is no recognized transmission from anyone who makes a distinction in meaning between the kasra and the ḍamma, given what I have mentioned concerning what is transmitted from those who heard from the Arabs what I have cited.

   Mention of the report about that, coming from some who do make a distinction in meaning therein between the kasra and the ḍamma:

   Yūnus told me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا : "The two forms are different: sikhriyyan and sukhriyyan. Allah says: وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا سُخْرِيًّا (and We have raised some of them above others in ranks, so that some of them may take others into compelled service) — he said: this is sikhriyyan: they keep them in forced labor for you; and the others — those who mock them — they are sukhriyyan: your elevation above him made you keep him in forced labor; and the others: they mock the people of Islam, that is sukhriyyan: they mock them. The two are thus different forms." And he recited the saying of Allah: وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلأٌ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُ قَالَ إِنْ تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنْكُمْ كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ (and whenever a group of his people passed by him, they mocked him; he said: if you mock us, then we mock you just as you mock), and he said: they mock them just as the people of Noah mocked Noah; they took them as sukhriyyan: they made them an object of mockery, they persisted in mocking them.

   As for His word: حَتَّى أَنْسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي (until they made you forget My remembrance) — He says: your persistent mockery of them made you, through that conduct toward them, forget the remembrance of Me, so that it diverted you from it; وَكُنْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ (and you laughed at them).

   As Yūnus told me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, he said: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word حَتَّى أَنْسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي : "their mockery of them and their laughing at them made these forget Allah" — and he recited: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا كَانُوا مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَضْحَكُونَ (verily, the criminals used to laugh at those who believed) until he reached: إِنَّ هَؤُلاءِ لَضَالُّونَ (verily, these are indeed the ones gone astray).

   Show original Arabic

   يقول تعالى ذكره: فاتخذتم أيها القائلون لربكم رَبَّنَا غَلَبَتْ عَلَيْنَا شِقْوَتُنَا وَكُنَّا قَوْمًا ضَالِّينَ في الدنيا، القائلين فيها: رَبَّنَا آمَنَّا فَاغْفِرْ لَنَا وَارْحَمْنَا وَأَنْتَ خَيْرُ الرَّاحِمِينَ سُخْريا. والهاء والميم في قوله: ( فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ ) من ذكر الفريق. واختلفت القرّاء في قراءة قوله: ( سِخْرِيًّا ) فقرأه بعض قرّاء الحجاز وبعض أهل البصرة والكوفة ( فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) بكسر السين، ويتأوّلون في كسرها أن معنى ذلك الهزء، ويقولون: إنها إذا ضُمت فمعنى الكلمة: السُّخْرة والاستعباد. فمعنى الكلام على مذهب هؤلاء: فاتخذتم أهل الإيمان بي في الدنيا هُزُؤًا ولعبا، تهزءون بهم، حتى أنسوكم ذكري. وقرأ ذلك عامة قرّاء المدينة والكوفة: ( فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سُخْرِيًّا ) بضم السين، وقالوا: معنى الكلمة في الضمّ والكسر واحد. وحكى بعضهم عن العرب سماعا لِجِّيّ ولُجِّي، ودِرِيّ، ودُرِيّ، منسوب إلى الدرّ، وكذلك كِرسيّ وكُرسيّ؛ وقالوا ذلك من قيلهم كذلك، نظير قولهم في جمع العصا: العِصِيّ بكسر العين، والعُصِيّ بضمها; قالوا: وإنما اخترنا الضم في السِّخري؛ لأنه أفصح اللغتين. والصواب من القول في ذلك، أنهما قراءتان مشهورتان، ولغتان معروفتان بمعنى واحد، قد قرأ بكلّ واحدة منهما علماء من القرّاء، فبأيتهما قرأ القارئ ذلك فمصيب، وليس يُعْرف من فرق بين معنى ذلك إذا كسرت السين وإذا ضمت؛ لما ذكرت من الرواية عمن سمع من العرب ما حَكَيت عنه. ذكر الرواية به عن بعض من فَرَّق في ذلك بين معناه مكسورة سينه ومضمومة. حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد ( فَاتَّخَذْتُمُوهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) قال: هما مختلفتان: سِخريا، وسُخريا، يقول الله: وَرَفَعْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ فَوْقَ بَعْضٍ دَرَجَاتٍ لِيَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُهُمْ بَعْضًا سُخْرِيًّا قال: هذا سِخريّا: يُسَخِّرونهم، والآخرون: الذين يستهزئون بهم هم سُخريًّا، فتلك سِخريًّا يُسَخرونهم عندك، فسخَّرك رفعك فوقه، والآخرون: استهزءوا بأهل الإسلام هي: سُخريّا يَسْخَرون منهم. فهما مختلفتان. وقرأ قول الله: وَكُلَّمَا مَرَّ عَلَيْهِ مَلأٌ مِنْ قَوْمِهِ سَخِرُوا مِنْهُ قَالَ إِنْ تَسْخَرُوا مِنَّا فَإِنَّا نَسْخَرُ مِنْكُمْ كَمَا تَسْخَرُونَ وقال: يسخرون منهم كما سخر قوم نوح بنوح، اتخذوهم سُخريًّا: اتخذوهم هُزُؤًا، لم يزالوا يستهزئون بهم. وقوله: ( حَتَّى أَنْسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي ) يقول: لم يزل استهزاؤكم بهم، أنساكم ذلك من فعلكم بهم ذكري، فألْهَاكم عنه ( وَكُنْتُمْ مِنْهُمْ تَضْحَكُونَ ) . كما حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد، في قوله: ( حَتَّى أَنْسَوْكُمْ ذِكْرِي ) قال: أنسى هؤلاء الله استهزاؤُهم بهم، وضحكهم بهم، وقرأ: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ أَجْرَمُوا كَانُوا مِنَ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا يَضْحَكُونَ حتى بلغ: إِنَّ هَؤُلاءِ لَضَالُّونَ .