Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of His saying: إِنْ تَمْسَسْكُمْ حَسَنَةٌ تَسُؤْهُمْ وَإِنْ تُصِبْكُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَفْرَحُوا بِهَا وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ مُحِيطٌ (3:120) (If good befalls you, it grieves them, and if evil befalls you, they rejoice over it; but if you are patient and God-fearing, their plotting will not harm you in anything. Truly, Allah encompasses what they do.)

   Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: He — exalted is His mention — means by His word "If good befalls you, it grieves them": if you, O believers, attain joy through your victory over your enemy, and through the people's successive entering into your religion, and their affirming of your Prophet ﷺ and their helping you against your enemies — then that grieves them. And if a setback befalls you through the failure of a raiding party (sarīya) of yours, or through harm inflicted by an enemy upon you from among your midst, or through a discord that arises among your community — then they rejoice over it. As in:

   7705 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word "If good befalls you, it grieves them, and if evil befalls you, they rejoice over it": when they see among the people of Islam concord, community, and victory over their enemy, that enrages and grieves them; and when they see among the people of Islam division and discord, or when a part of the Muslims is afflicted, that gladdens them, and they take delight in it and rejoice over it. Each time a generation of them arises, Allah belies their prattle, tramples down their standing, nullifies their argument, and brings their disgrace to light. That is the decree of Allah concerning whoever of them has passed away and whoever of them remains until the Day of Resurrection.

   7706 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ, concerning His word "If good befalls you, it grieves them, and if evil befalls you, they rejoice over it," he said: those are the hypocrites (munāfiqūn); when they see among the people of Islam community and victory over their enemy, that enrages them with severe rage and grieves them; and when they see among the people of Islam division and discord, or when a part of the Muslims is afflicted, that gladdens them and they take delight in it. Allah, mighty and exalted, said: "but if you are patient and God-fearing, their plotting will not harm you in anything. Truly, Allah encompasses what they do."

   7707 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His word "If good befalls you, it grieves them," he said: when they see among the believers community and concord, that grieves them, and when they see among them division and discord, they rejoice.

   * * *

   And as for His word "but if you are patient and God-fearing, their plotting will not harm you in anything": He, whose praise is exalted, means thereby: and if you, O believers, are patient in obedience to Allah and in following His command in what He has charged you with, and in avoiding what He has forbidden you — namely, the taking of an intimate confidant for yourselves from these Jews whose characteristic Allah has described, instead of from the believers, and the rest of all that He has forbidden you — "and are God-fearing" toward your Lord, so that you fear to go ahead of Him in what He has imposed upon you and made obligatory for you of His right and the right of His Messenger — "then their plotting will not harm you in anything," that is to say: the plotting of these whose characteristic He has described.

   * * *

   And by "their plotting" He means their malicious schemes which they contrive against the Muslims, and their wiles against them to turn them away from right guidance and the path of the truth.

   * * *

   Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The reciters differ concerning the reading of His word "lā yaḍurrukum" (will not harm you).

   A group of the people of the Ḥijāz and some of the Baṣrans read it as ( لَا يَضِرْكُمْ ), shortened, with a kasra on the ḍād, derived from the saying: "ḍārani fulān fa-huwa yaḍīruni ḍayran" (so-and-so harmed me, so he harms me, harm). And it has been transmitted as heard from the Arabs: "mā yanfaʿuni wa-lā yaḍūruni" (it does not benefit me and does not harm me). Had it been read according to this linguistic form, one would have said: ( لَا يَضِرْكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا ), but I do not know of anyone who read it thus.

   * * *

   A group of the people of Medina and the majority of the reciters of the people of Kūfa read it as ( لَا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا ), with a ḍamma on the ḍād and doubling of the rāʾ, derived from the saying: "ḍarrani fulān fa-huwa yaḍurruni ḍarran" (so-and-so inflicted harm upon me, so he harms me, harm).

   * * *

   And as for the nominative (rafʿ) in His word "lā yaḍurrukum," it has two explanations.

   The first: that the rāʾ in its vowel-movement follows the nearest of the vowel-movements of the letters preceding it — since it should originally have been a jussive (jazm), yet the jussive was not possible because of the doubling. That is the movement of the ḍād, namely the ḍamma; thus the movement of the rāʾ was made to conform to it because of its proximity thereto, as one says: "mudd yā hādhā" (pull, O you there).

   And the other of the two explanations for the nominative herein: that it stands correctly in the nominative, with "lā" having the meaning of "laysa" (it is not), and with the "fāʾ" which is the answer to the condition being omitted because the listener knows its place. And when that is the meaning, the explanation of the saying is: and if you are patient and God-fearing, then their plotting does not harm you in anything — then the "fāʾ" was omitted from His word "lā yaḍurrukum kayduhum," and "lā" took the meaning of "laysa," as the poet said:

   If it does not please you, until you send me back to Qaṭarī — I do not reckon you will be pleased.

   And had the rāʾ been moved to the accusative (naṣb) or the genitive (khafḍ), it would be permissible, as one says: "mudda yā hādhā" and "muddi."

   * * *

   And His word "Truly, Allah encompasses what they do": He, whose praise is exalted, says: truly, Allah, with respect to what these unbelievers among His servants and in His lands commit of corruption, and of turning away from His path, and enmity toward the people of His religion, and the rest of the deeds of disobedience to Allah — is "encompassing" (muḥīṭ) of all that, preserving it, nothing of it escaping Him, until He requites them in full for all that and makes them taste His punishment for it.

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   Footnotes:

   (55) See the explanation of "al-mass" (the touching) in what has passed earlier, 5: 118.

   (56) See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 232.

   (57) He is Sawwār ibn al-Muḍarrib al-Saʿdī al-Tamīmī.

   (58) Nawādir Abī Zayd: 45, al-Kāmil 1: 300, Ḥamāsat Ibn al-Shajarī: 54, 55, Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 232; among the verses with which he struck al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf al-Thaqafī in the face, when the latter imposed upon the Banū Tamīm the going forth to fight the Khawārij. Then Sawwār fled and said:

   Does al-Ḥajjāj wish to kill me because I did not visit Darāb for his sake, and have left my heart with Hind?

   And if it does not please you, until you send me back to Qaṭarī — I do not reckon you will be pleased!

   When my she-camel crosses the pass of the passage-wardens, then: by the hindmost of the father of al-Ḥajjāj, for he made me turn back!

   Do the Banū Marwān hope for my hearing and my obedience, while Tamīm stands between me [and them], and the wasteland lies behind me?!

   By his word "Darāb" he means Darābjird, a city in the land of Persia; al-Muhallab was fighting the Khawārij there at that time, whose leader was Qaṭarī ibn al-Fujāʾa. Then he says to him in the second verse: if it only pleases you to send me back to the fight against Qaṭarī, then I do not think you will attain your satisfaction, for you will not overtake me, and your hand will never reach me — he mocks the power of al-Ḥajjāj. And his word "the pass of the passage-wardens" — they are those stationed at the gates of the cities and the frontier outposts; they bar the one going out and the one coming in, except whoever has with him a passage-permit granted by his commander. He says: when I cross the pass, then: how far is your hand from reaching me and turning me from my course! And the witness [for the grammatical point] in al-Ṭabarī lies in his word "lā ikhāluka rāḍiyan," that is to say: I do not reckon you to be pleased.

   (59) What has passed is the saying of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān 1: 232.

   (60) See the explanation of "al-iḥāṭa" (the encompassing) in what has passed earlier, 2: 284 / 5: 396.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : إِنْ تَمْسَسْكُمْ حَسَنَةٌ تَسُؤْهُمْ وَإِنْ تُصِبْكُمْ سَيِّئَةٌ يَفْرَحُوا بِهَا وَإِنْ تَصْبِرُوا وَتَتَّقُوا لا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا إِنَّ اللَّهَ بِمَا يَعْمَلُونَ مُحِيطٌ (120) قال أبو جعفر: يعني بقوله تعالى ذكره: " إن تمسسكم حسنة تسؤهم "، إن تنالوا، أيها المؤمنون، سرورًا بظهوركم على عدوكم، وتتابع الناس في الدخول في دينكم، وتصديق نبيكم ومعاونتكم على أعدائكم = يسؤهم. (55) وإن تنلكم مساءة بإخفاق سرية لكم، أو بإصابة عدوٍّ لكم منكم، أو اختلاف يكون بين جماعتكم = يفرحوا بها. كما:- 7705- حدثنا بشر قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله: " إن تمسسكم حسنة تسؤهم وإن تصبكم سيئة يفرحوا بها "، فإذا رأوا من أهل الإسلام ألفة وجماعة وظهورًا على عدوهم، غاظهم ذلك وساءهم، وإذا رأوا من أهل الإسلام فُرقة واختلافًا، أو أصيب طرف من أطراف المسلمين، سرَّهم &; 7-156 &; ذلك وأعجبوا به وابتهجوا به. فهم كلما خرج منهم قَرْنٌ أكذبَ الله أحدوثته، وأوطأ محلَّته، وأبطل حجته، وأظهر عورته، فذاك قضاء الله فيمن مضى منهم وفيمن بقى إلى يوم القيامة. 7706- حدثت عن عمار قال، حدثنا ابن أبي جعفر، عن أبيه، عن الربيع، قوله: " إن تمسسكم حسنة تسؤهم وإن تصبكم سيئة يفرحوا بها "، قال: هم المنافقون، إذا رأوا من أهل الإسلام جماعة وظهورًا على عدوهم، غاظهم ذلك غيظًا شديدًا وساءهم. وإذا رأوا من أهل الإسلام فرقة واختلافًا، أو أصيب طرفٌ من أطراف المسلمين، سرَّهم ذلك وأعجبوا به. قال الله عز وجل: " وإن تصبروا وتتقوا لا يضركم كيدهم شيئًا إن الله بما يعملون محيط". 7707- حدثنا القاسم قال، حدثنا الحسين قال، حدثني حجاج، عن ابن جريج، قوله: " إن تمسسكم حسنة تسؤهم "، قال: إذا رأوا من المؤمنين جماعة وألفة ساءهم ذلك، وإذا رأوا منهم فرقة واختلافًا فرحوا. * * * وأما قوله: " وإن تصبروا وتتقوا لا يضركم كيدهم شيئًا "، فإنه يعني بذلك جل ثناؤه: وإن تصبروا، أيها المؤمنون، على طاعة الله واتباع أمره فيما أمركم به، واجتناب ما نهاكم عنه: من اتخاذ بطانة لأنفسكم من هؤلاء اليهود الذين وصف الله صفتهم من دون المؤمنين، وغير ذلك من سائر ما نهاكم =" وتتقوا " ربكم، فتخافوا التقدم بين يديه فيما ألزمكم وأوجبَ عليكم من حقه وحق رسوله =" لا يضركم كيدهم شيئًا "، أي: كيد هؤلاء الذين وصف صفتهم. * * * ويعني بـ " كيدهم "، غوائلهم التي يبتغونها للمسلمين، ومكرهم بهم ليصدّوهم عن الهدى وسبيل الحق. * * * قال أبو جعفر: واختلف القرأة في قراءة قوله: " لا يضركم ". فقرأ ذلك جماعة من أهل الحجاز وبعضُ البصريين: ( لا يَضُرُّكُمْ ) مخففة بكسر " الضاد "، من قول القائل: " ضارني فلان فهو يضيرني ضيرًا ". وقد حكي سماعًا من العرب: " ما ينفعني ولا يضورني"، فلو كانت قرئت على هذه اللغة لقيل: ( لا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا )، ولكني لا أعلم أحدًا قرأ به . (56) * * * وقرأ ذلك جماعة من أهل المدينة وعامة قرأة أهل الكوفة: ( لا يَضُرُّكُمْ كَيْدُهُمْ شَيْئًا ) بضم " الضاد " وتشديد " الراء "، من قول القائل: " ضرّني فلان فهو يضرني ضرًا ". * * * وأما الرفع في قوله: " لا يضركم "، فمن وجْهين. أحدهما: على إتباع " الراء " في حركتها = إذْ كان الأصل فيها الجزم، ولم يمكن جزمها لتشديدها = أقربَ حركات الحروف التي قبلها. وذلك حركة " الضاد " وهي الضمة، فألحقت بها حركة الراء لقربها منها، كما قالوا: " مُدُّ يا هذا ". والوجه الآخر من وجهي الرفع في ذلك: أن تكون مرفوعة على صحة، وتكون " لا " بمعنى " ليس "، وتكون " الفاء " التي هي جواب الجزاء، متروكة لعلم السامع بموضعها. وإذا كان ذلك معناه، كان تأويل الكلام: وإن تصبروا وتتقوا، فليس يضرُّكم كيدهم شيئًا - ثم تركت " الفاء " من قوله: " لا يضركم كيدهم "، ووجهت " لا " إلى معنى " ليس "، كما قال الشاعر: (57) فَـإنْ كَـانَ لا يُـرْضِيكَ حَـتَّى تَرُدَّنِي إلَــى قَطَــرِيٍّ، لا إخَـالُكَ رَاضِيَـا (58) ولو كانت " الراء " محركة إلى النصب والخفض، كان جائزًا، كما قيل: " مُدَّ يا هذا، ومُدِّ". (59) * * * وقوله: " إنّ الله بما يعملون محيطٌ"، يقول جل ثناؤه: إن الله بما يعمل هؤلاء الكفار في عباده وبلاده من الفساد والصدّ عن سبيله، والعداوة لأهل دينه، وغير ذلك من معاصي الله =" محيط" بجميعه، حافظ له، لا يعزب عنه شيء منه، حتى يوفيهم جزاءهم على ذلك كله، ويذيقهم عقوبته عليه. (60) ---------------------- الهوامش : (55) انظر تفسير"المس" فيما سلف 5: 118. (56) انظر معاني القرآن للفراء 1: 232. (57) هو سوار بن المضرب السعدي التميمي. (58) نوادر أبي زيد: 45 ، الكامل 1: 300 ، حماسة ابن الشجري: 54 ، 55 ، معاني القرآن للفراء 1: 232 ، من أبيات ضرب بها وجه الحجاج بن يوسف الثقفي ، لما كتب على بني تميم البعث إلى قتال الخوارج ، فهرب سوار وقال: أَقَــاتِلِىَ الحَجَّــاجُ أَنْ لَـمْ أَزُرْ لَـهُ دَرَابَ، وَأَتْــرُكْ عِنْـدَ هِنْـدٍ فُؤَادِيَـا? فَـإن كُـنْتَ لا يُـرْضِيكَ حَتَّـى تَرُدَّنِي إلَــى قَطَـرِيٍّ، لا إِخـالُكَ رَاضِيَـا!! إذَا جَـاوَزَتْ دَرْبَ المُجِـيزِينَ نَـاقَتي فَبِأسْــتِ أبي الحَجَّـاجِ لَمَّـا ثَنَانِيَـا أَيَرْجُـو بَنُـو مَرْوَانَ سَمْعِي وطَاعَتِي، وَدُونِــي تَمِيـمٌ، والفَـلاةُ وَرَائِيَـا!! وقوله: "دراب" يعني: دراب جرد ، وهي بلدة في بلاد فارس ، وكان المهلب يومئذ يقاتل بها الخوارج ورأسهم قطرى بن الفجاءة. ثم يقول له في البيت الثاني: إن كان لا يرضبيك إلا ردي إلى قتال قطري ، فلا أظنك تبلغ رضاك ، فإنك غير مدركي ، ولن تنالني يدك. يسخر بسطوة الحجاج. وقوله: "درب المجيزين" هم المقيمون على أبواب المدن والثغور. يمنعون الخارج والداخل ، إلا من كان بيده جواز معطى من أميره. يقول: إذا جاوزت الدرب فيا بعد يديك عن أن تنالني وتثنيني عن وجهتي! والشاهد عند الطبري هو في قوله: "لا إخالك راضيًا" ، أي: فلست إخالك راضيًا. (59) الذي سلف هو مقالة الفراء في معاني القرآن 1: 232. (60) انظر تفسير"الإحاطة" فيما سلف 2: 284 / 5 : 396.