Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   And His word: ( لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الألِيمَ ) "they will not believe in it until they behold the painful punishment" — He says: We have done that to them, so that they would not hold this Qurʾān to be true, until they behold the painful punishment (al-ʿadhāb al-alīm) in the nearer life of this world, like the communities that beheld it, whose stories Allah has recounted in this sūrah. And He has placed His word ( لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ) "they will not believe" in the nominative (rafʿ), because it is the custom of the Arabs that, when they place the word "lā" in a position such as this, they sometimes put what follows it in the jussive (jazm), and sometimes in the nominative (rafʿ). Thus one says: "I have tethered the horse, it will not escape" (lā tanfalit) and "I have tied the knot firmly, it will not come undone" (lā yanḥall), in the jussive and in the nominative. They do that only because the interpretation of it is: if I do not tie the knot firmly, it comes undone — so the jussive is on the basis of that interpretation, and the nominative is because the element that effects the jussive is not visible.

   Among the evidentiary citations for the jussive therein is the word of the poet:

   Lūw kunta idh jiʾtanā ḥāwalta ruʾyatanā aw jiʾtanā māshiyan lā yaʿrif al-faras (7)

   (Were you, when you came to us, set on seeing us — or did you come to us on foot, while the horse is not recognized)

   And the word of the other:

   La-ṭālamā ḥalaʾtumāhā lā tarid fa-khalliyāhā wa-l-sijāla tabtarid (8)

   (How long have you two kept her away from the water so that she does not drink — so let her go, and with the buckets she will quench her thirst)

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   The footnotes:

   (6) The explanation of Ibn Zayd concerning what he meant by the āya has dropped out; perhaps it is unbelief (kufr) or shirk, or something of that sort, or something similar.

   (7) The verse belongs to the evidentiary citations of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (photocopy of the university, folio 230). He said: and His word (kadhālika salaknāhu) "thus have We caused it to enter" — you say: We have caused the denial to enter into the hearts of the criminals, so that they would not believe in it until they behold the painful punishment. And when the position of "kay" (so that) in a case such as this admits both "lā" and "in", then in "lā" both the jussive and the nominative are valid. The Arabs say: "I have tethered the horse, it does not escape" (lā yanfalit), in the jussive and the nominative; and "I have bound the slave, he does not flee" (lā yafirr), in the jussive and the nominative. It is put in the jussive only because the interpretation of it is: if I do not bind him, he flees — so the jussive on the basis of that interpretation. A man of the Banū ʿUqayl recited to me:

   Wa-ḥattā raʾaynā aḥsan al-fiʿli baynanā musākatatan lā yafriq al-sharra fāriqu

   He recites it in the nominative and the jussive. And another said: "Lūw kunta idh jiʾtanā..." the verse, in the nominative and the jussive; and the word "la-ṭālamā ḥalaʾtumāhā..." is the evidentiary citation that follows hereafter.

   (8) The verse is in (al-Lisān: ḥalaʾa). Its transmission reads: "qad ṭālamā..." etc. He said: ḥallaʾa the camels and the cattle away from the water (taḥlīʾan and taḥliʾatan): he drove them away or held them back from coming to the water, and prevented them from drinking. And likewise ḥallaʾa he the people away from the water. Ibn al-Aʿrābī said: Qarība said: there was a man in love with a woman, and he married her; then the women came to her, and some of them said to others: * qad ṭālamā ḥalaʾtumāhā lā tarid *

   the verse. And al-sijāl: the plural of sajl, which is the great bucket filled with water (al-Lisān). And the verse is an evidentiary citation like the preceding one, namely that in "lā tarid" both the nominative and the jussive are permissible on the basis of the interpretation that al-Farrāʾ mentioned.

   Show original Arabic

   وقوله: ( لا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِهِ حَتَّى يَرَوُا الْعَذَابَ الألِيمَ ) يقول: فعلنا ذلك؛ بهم لئلا يصدّقوا بهذا القرآن, حتى يروا العذاب الأليم في عاجل الدنيا, كما رأت ذلك الأمم الذين قص الله قصصهم في هذه السورة. ورفع قوله ( لا يُؤْمِنُونَ ) لأن العرب من شأنها إذا وضعت في موضع مثل هذا الموضع " لا " ربما جزمت ما بعدها, وربما رفعت فتقول: ربطت الفرس لا تنفلتْ, وأحكمت العقد لا ينحلّ, جزما ورفعا. وإنما تفعل ذلك لأن تأويل ذلك: إن لم أحكم العقد انحلّ, فجزمه على التأويل, ورفعه بأن الجازم غير ظاهر. ومن الشاهد على الجزم في ذلك قول الشاعر: لَـوْ كُـنْتَ إذْ جِئْتَنـا حـاوَلْتَ رؤْيَتَنا أوْ جِئْتنـا ماشِـيا لا يَعْـرِف الفَـرَس (7) وقول الآخر: لَطالَمَـــا حَلأتَمَاهـــا لا تَــرِدْ فَخَلِّياهـــا والسِّـــجَالَ تَبْـــتَرِدْ (8) ------------------------------- الهوامش : (6) سقط تفسير ابن زيد لما أراد من الآية، ولعله الكفر أو الشرك، أو نحوه، أو مثله. (7) البيت من شواهد الفراء في معاني القرآن (مصورة الجامعة الورقة 230) قال: وقوله: (كذلك سلكناه) تقول: سلكنا التكذيب في قلوب المجرمين كيلا يؤمنوا به حتى يروا العذاب الأليم. وإذا كان موقع كى في مثل هذا "لا" و "إن" جميعًا، صلح الجزم في "لا" والرفع. والعرب تقول: ربطت الفرس لا ينفلت: جزمًا ورفعًا وأوثقت العبد لا يفر: جزما ورفعًا؛ وإنما جزم، لأن تأويله: إن لم أربطه فر؛ فجزم على التأويل. أنشدني بعض بني عقيل: وَحَـتى رَأَيْنَـا أَحْسَـنَ الْفِعْـلِ بَيْنَنَـا مُسَــاكَتَةً لا يَفْــرِقُ الشَّـرَّ فَـارِقُ ينشد رفعًا وجزمًا. وقال الآخر: "لو كنت إذ جئتنا.." البيت: رفعًا وجزمًا، وقوله: "لطالما حلأتماها.." الشاهد الآتي بعد من ذلك. (8) البيت في (اللسان: حلأ). وروايته: قد طالما.. إلخ، قال: حلأ الإبل والماشية عن الماء تحليئًا وتحلئة: طردها أو حبسها عن الورود، ومنعها أن ترده. وكذلك حلأ القوم عن الماء. وقال ابن الأعرابي: قالت قريبة: كان رجل عاشق لمرأة فتزوجها، فجاءها النساء، فقال بعضهن لبعض * قـد طالمـا حلأتماهـا لا تـرد * البيت. والسجال: جمع سجل وهو الدلو الضخمة المملوءة ماء (اللسان) والبيت شاهد كالذي قبله، على أن "لا ترد" يجوز فيه الرفع والجزم على التأويل الذي ذكره الفراء.