Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:200
O you who have believed, persevere and endure and remain stationed and fear Allah that you may be successful.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اصْبِرُوا وَصَابِرُوا وَرَابِطُوا ("O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast [in patience than your enemies], and keep guard (rābiṭū)") (3:200)
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: The scholars of exegesis differed concerning the explanation of this.
Some of them said: the meaning of this is: "Be patient concerning your religion, be more steadfast than the disbelievers (kuffār), and keep guard against them (rābiṭū)."
Mention of who said that:
8386 - Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Suwayd ibn Naṣr related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of al-Mubārak ibn Faḍāla, on the authority of al-Ḥasan [al-Baṣrī]: that he heard him say concerning the statement of Allah: "O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard" — he said: He commanded them to be patient concerning their religion and not to abandon it, neither in hardship nor in prosperity, neither in joy nor in adversity; and He commanded them to be more steadfast than the disbelievers (kuffār), and to keep guard against the polytheists (mushrikīn).
8387 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] his statement: "O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", that is: be patient in obedience to Allah, be more steadfast than the people of misguidance, and keep guard in the path of Allah = "and fear Allah, so that you may succeed".
8388 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his statement: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he says: Be more steadfast than the polytheists (mushrikīn) and keep guard in the path of Allah.
8389 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: Be patient in obedience, be more steadfast than the enemies of Allah, and keep guard in the path of Allah.
8390 - Yaḥyā ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: Yazīd informed us, saying: Juwaybir informed us, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, concerning his statement: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he said: Be patient concerning that which you have been commanded, be more steadfast than the enemy, and keep guard against them.
* * *
And others said: the meaning of this is: be patient concerning your religion, be steadfast [in awaiting] My promise to you for your obedience to Me, and keep guard against your enemies.
* Mention of who said that:
8391 - Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Abū Ṣakhr informed me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī: that he used to say concerning this verse: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he says: Be patient concerning your religion, be steadfast [in awaiting] the promise that I have made to you, and keep guard against My enemy and your enemy, until he forsakes his religion for your religion.
* * *
And others said: the meaning of this is: be patient concerning the jihād, be more steadfast than your enemy, and keep guard against them.
* Mention of who said that:
8392 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Jaʿfar ibn ʿAwn related to us, saying: Hishām ibn Saʿd informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, concerning his statement: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard", he said: Be patient concerning the jihād, be more steadfast than your enemy, and keep guard against your enemy.
8393 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Madanī related to us, saying: Mālik ibn Anas related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, he said: Abū ʿUbayda ibn al-Jarrāḥ wrote to ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb and mentioned to him the armies of the Byzantines (al-Rūm) and what he feared from them. Thereupon ʿUmar wrote back to him: To proceed: indeed, when a believing servant is afflicted by a state of hardship, then Allah ordains relief after it, and indeed, one difficulty will never overcome two eases; and indeed, Allah says in His Book: "O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard, and fear Allah, so that you may succeed."
* * *
And others said: the meaning of "and keep guard (rābiṭū)" is: persevere in the prayers, that is: await them, one prayer after another.
Mention of who said that:
8394 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Suwayd related to us, saying: Ibn al-Mubārak informed us, on the authority of Muṣʿab ibn Thābit ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr, he said: Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, saying: Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān said to me: O son of my brother, do you know concerning what this verse was revealed: "Be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard"? He said: I said: No! He said: Indeed, O son of my brother, there was in the time of the Prophet ﷺ no military expedition in which the guard (ribāṭ) was kept, but rather it is the awaiting of the [next] prayer after [the previous] prayer.
8395 - Abū al-Sāʾib related to me, saying: Ibn Fuḍayl related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd al-Maqburī, on the authority of his grandfather, on the authority of Sharaḥbīl, on the authority of ʿAlī, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Shall I not direct you to that by which Allah effaces sins and transgressions? The complete performance of the ablution (wuḍūʾ) despite hardships, and the awaiting of the prayer after the prayer — that is the ribāṭ (keeping guard)."
8396 - Mūsā ibn Sahl al-Ramlī related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Wāḍiḥ related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Muhājir related to us, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Yazīd related to me, on the authority of Zayd ibn Abī Unaysa, on the authority of Sharaḥbīl, on the authority of Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Shall I not direct you to that by which Allah wipes away transgressions and effaces sins?" He said: We said: Certainly, O Messenger of Allah! He said: "The complete performance of the ablution (wuḍūʾ) in its proper places, the frequent taking of steps to the mosques, and the awaiting of the prayer after the prayer — that is the ribāṭ (keeping guard)."
8397 - Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: Khālid ibn Makhlad related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, he said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Shall I not direct you to that by which Allah effaces transgressions and by which He raises the ranks?" They said: Certainly, O Messenger of Allah! He said: "The complete performance of the ablution (wuḍūʾ) at the time of hardships, the frequent taking of steps to the mosques, and the awaiting of the prayer after the prayer — that is the ribāṭ, that is the ribāṭ (keeping guard)."
8398 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Abū Hurayra, on the authority of the Prophet ﷺ, in similar wording.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: And the most fitting of the explanations for the exegesis of the verse is the statement of the one who said concerning it: "O you who believe" — O you who have held Allah and His Messenger to be true — "be patient" concerning your religion and obedience to your Lord. And that is because Allah did not except, from among the meanings of "patience (ṣabr)" concerning the religion and obedience, anything that would permit it to be placed outside the literal import of the revelation. Therefore we have said that by His statement "be patient" He intended the command to patience concerning all the meanings of obedience to Allah in that which He commanded and forbade — the heavy and difficult of it, and the light and easy of it.
= "be more steadfast (ṣābirū)", that is: be more steadfast than your enemies among the polytheists (mushrikīn).
* * *
And we have only said that this is the most correct, because what is known in the language of the Arabs concerning the "reciprocal verb form (mufāʿala)" is that it is of two parties, or of two or more [persons], and that it is not of a single one, except in few, countable cases. And since that is so, the believers have only been commanded to be more steadfast than others among their enemies, until Allah grants them victory over them, raises His word and abases their enemies, and so that their enemy will not be more patient than they.
* * *
And likewise His statement "and keep guard (rābiṭū)", the meaning of it is: and keep guard against your enemies and the enemies of your religion among the people of polytheism (shirk), in the path of Allah.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: And he held that the origin of "the ribāṭ (the guard)" is the tethering (irtibāṭ) of the horses for [the fight against] the enemy, just as their enemy tethered his horses against them; then that was applied to everyone who resides at a frontier outpost (thaghr), who defends those behind him against those who wish to harm them, and who protects those between him and them against those who assail them with affliction — whether he possesses horses that he has tethered, or whether he is on foot and has no mount.
* * *
And we have only said that the meaning of "and keep guard (rābiṭū)" is: and keep guard against your enemies and the enemies of your religion, because that is the known meaning among the meanings of "the ribāṭ (the guard)." And speech is directed only toward the most current, known meaning in the usage of the people, not toward the hidden, until something comes that [indicates] the contrary thereof, which obligates the turning of it toward the hidden of its meanings — a proof to which one must submit, from the Book, or a report from the Messenger ﷺ, or a consensus (ijmāʿ) of the scholars of exegesis.
* * *
The discourse on the explanation of His statement: وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ("and fear Allah, so that you may succeed") (3:200)
Abū Jaʿfar [al-Ṭabarī] said: He — exalted be His mention — means thereby: "and fear Allah", O believers, and guard yourselves against opposing His command or anticipating His prohibition = "so that you may succeed", he says: so that you may succeed and thereby abide forever in bliss, and succeed with Him in your desires, such as:-
8399 - Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Abū Ṣakhr informed me, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī: that he used to say concerning the statement: "and fear Allah, so that you may succeed": fear Allah concerning that which is between Me and you, so that you may succeed tomorrow when you meet Me.
* * *
[Herewith ends] the end of the tafsīr of Sūrat Āl ʿImrān.
* * *
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The footnotes:
(41) The narration 8391: "Abū Ṣakhr" is: Ḥumayd ibn Ziyād ibn Abī al-Mukhāriq, Abū Ṣakhr al-Kharrāṭ, owner of the cloak (al-ʿabāʾ); he settled in Egypt. Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him among the trustworthy (al-thiqāt). He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb.
(42) The narration 8393: "Muṭarrif ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muṭarrif ibn Sulaymān al-Hilālī, al-Madanī, freedman (mawlā) of Maymūna, the Mother of the Believers, and his mother was the sister of Mālik ibn Anas. He narrated from his maternal uncle Mālik ibn Anas, from Ibn Abī Dhiʾb, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUmar al-ʿUmarī and others. From him narrated al-Bukhārī and al-Tirmidhī — via Muḥammad ibn Abī al-Ḥasan from him — and Ibn Māja — via al-Dhuhlī from him — and al-Rabīʿ al-Murādī, and Abū Ḥātim, and Abū Zurʿa and others. Abū Ḥātim said: "Confused in narration (muḍṭarib al-ḥadīth), truthful (ṣadūq)." And Ibn Saʿd said: "He was trustworthy (thiqa), and he was deaf." He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, in al-Kabīr 4/1/397 and in al-Jarḥ 4/1/315. In the printed edition it had "al-Murrī", and in the manuscript the like, and it is read as "al-Muzanī"; the correct is "al-Madanī" or "al-Madīnī" in his lineage, as it occurs in the sources, and [in] Ibn Kathīr 2:337.
And in Ibn Kathīr 2:337: "when a believing servant is afflicted by a state of hardship"; and in al-Durr al-Manthūr 2:114: "when a believing servant is afflicted by hardship"; and in the printed edition and the manuscript: "when a believing servant is afflicted [with] a state of hardship", with the omission of "min" (by/from), whereas the correct is its inclusion.
And among the widespread errors is the claim that "mahmā" does not precede the past tense, whereas it has occurred in the narrations, the reports, and the poems; among them is the saying of Abū Hurayra to al-Farazdaq: "Whatever you do, and even if the people despair of you, do not despair of the mercy of Allah" (al-Kāmil 1:70), and the saying of al-Aswad ibn Yaʿfur (Nawādir Abī Zayd: 159):
"Alas, is there for this age any solace, except the people — whatever he wishes, with the people he does."
And this narration al-Ḥākim narrated in expanded form in al-Mustadrak 2:300 with his isnād, he said:
"Abū al-ʿAbbās al-Sibārī informed us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAlī related to us, ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak related to us, Hishām ibn Saʿd informed us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, on the authority of his father, on the authority of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb — may Allah be pleased with him: that news reached him that Abū ʿUbayda was besieged in Syria (al-Shaʾm), and that the [enemy] people had allied against him; thereupon ʿUmar wrote to him: 'The peace of Allah be upon you. To proceed: indeed, no believing servant is afflicted by a state of hardship, but Allah ordains for him relief after it, and one difficulty will never overcome two eases. O you who believe, be patient, be more steadfast, and keep guard, and fear Allah, so that you may succeed.'
Thereupon Abū ʿUbayda wrote back to him: 'Peace be upon you. To proceed: indeed, Allah says in His Book: Know that the worldly life is but play and amusement, and adornment, and mutual boasting among you, and competition in possessions and children — to the end of it.'
He said: Then ʿUmar went out with his letter, sat upon the pulpit, read it to the people of Medina and then said: O people of Medina, Abū ʿUbayda is only alluding to you: that you should have a yearning for the jihād."
Al-Ḥākim said: "This is an authentic narration according to the condition of Muslim, although they [al-Bukhārī and Muslim] did not include it." And al-Dhahabī agreed with him.
(43) The narration 8394: "Muṣʿab ibn Thābit ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Zubayr" — his biography has already passed under number 6456. And "Dāwūd ibn Ṣāliḥ al-Tammār al-Madanī" — he narrated from Abū Umāma ibn Sahl ibn Ḥunayf, and from al-Qāsim, and Sālim, and Abū Salama. Aḥmad said: "I know nothing against him", and Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him among the trustworthy; he has a biography in al-Tahdhīb. And "Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf" belongs to the Followers (tābiʿūn); he narrated from a great number of companions (ṣaḥāba) and Followers. He was trustworthy (thiqa), a jurist (faqīh), with many narrations.
And the narration Ibn Kathīr included in his tafsīr 2:332, and he mentioned the version of Ibn Mardawayh of it (2:331) via "Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad, Mūsā ibn Isḥāq related to us, Abū Juḥayfa ʿAlī ibn Yazīd al-Kūfī related to us, Ibn Abī Karīma informed us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Yazīd, on the authority of Abū Salama ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, he said: Abū Hurayra came to me one day and said: Do you know, O son of my brother, concerning what this verse was revealed", and he conveyed the report in wording other than this.
And al-Ḥākim narrated it in al-Mustadrak 2:301 via Saʿīd ibn Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibn al-Mubārak, like the narration of al-Ṭabarī, except that in the answer to the question he said: "He said: I said: No. He said: O son of my brother, indeed I heard Abū Hurayra say: There was in the time of the Prophet not..." — in his [Abū Hurayra's] wording.
And likewise al-Suyūṭī included it in al-Durr al-Manthūr 2:113, and he attributed it to Ibn al-Mubārak, Ibn al-Mundhir, al-Ḥākim — who declared it authentic — and al-Bayhaqī in Shuʿab al-īmān.
And in all these places [it stands]: "the awaiting of the prayer after the prayer", whereas what is established in the manuscript is "behind the prayer (khalf al-ṣalāh)"; the scribe had written "baʿd (after)" there and then turned the bāʾ and the ʿayn into a khāʾ, stretched out the dāl and attached a fāʾ to it; so it appears that he wrote it as he knew it by heart, and then corrected himself, because in the copy from which he was transcribing he saw "khalf".
(44) The ḥadīth 8395: Abū al-Sāʾib is: Salm ibn Junāda. And Ibn Fuḍayl is: Muḥammad ibn Fuḍayl ibn Ghazwān.
ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd ibn Abī Saʿīd al-Maqburī: very weak (ḍaʿīf jiddan), accused of lying. This has already passed under [number] 7855.
Sharaḥbīl: I do not know who he is. And the isnād is weak on account of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Saʿīd, as you see.
And if this isnād were authentic, I would suppose that it is "Sharaḥbīl ibn al-Simṭ al-Kindī", one of the senior Followers (tābiʿūn), about whose companionship [with the Prophet] there is disagreement. And he is a contemporary of ʿAlī. And it is possible that Abū Saʿīd al-Maqburī narrates from him, who narrates directly from ʿAlī.
And the ḥadīth Ibn Kathīr 2:332 rendered, from this place. And he attributed it to none other than al-Ṭabarī. And al-Suyūṭī referred to it 2:114, after the ḥadīth of Jābir that follows hereafter, and said: "And Ibn Jarīr narrated something similar on the authority of ʿAlī."
And the meaning of the ḥadīth is established on the authority of ʿAlī, via another authentic route. But in it his statement "that is the ribāṭ" does not occur — al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid 2:36 and said: "Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār narrated it, and its narrators are the narrators of the Ṣaḥīḥ."
And al-Mundhirī mentioned it in al-Targhīb wa-al-tarhīb 1:97 and said: "Abū Yaʿlā and al-Bazzār narrated it with an authentic isnād. And al-Ḥākim [likewise], and he said: authentic according to the condition of Muslim."
(45) The ḥadīth 8396: Muḥammad ibn Muhājir ibn Abī Muslim, al-Anṣārī al-Shāmī: trustworthy (thiqa); Aḥmad, Ibn Maʿīn and others declared him trustworthy. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and in al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 1/1/229, and [in] Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/1/91.
Yaḥyā ibn Yazīd al-Jazarī, Abū Shayba al-Ruhāwī: al-Bukhārī said in al-Kabīr 4/2/310: "His ḥadīth has not been found authentic", and he also mentioned him among the weak (al-ḍuʿafāʾ), p. 37, and said the like. And Ibn Abī Ḥātim 4/2/198 said, on the authority of his father: "There is nothing against him; al-Bukhārī included him in the book of the weak, [but] he ought to be moved from there."
One such as this — his ḥadīth is good (ḥasan). Moreover, he does not stand alone in narrating this ḥadīth, as we shall mention in the source citation, if Allah wills.
Zayd ibn Abī Unaysa al-Jazarī al-Ruhāwī: trustworthy (thiqa); Ibn Maʿīn and others declared him trustworthy. Ibn Saʿd 7/2/180 said: "He was trustworthy, with many narrations, a jurist, a narrator of knowledge." All [six compilers of the] group narrated from him.
Sharaḥbīl — here — is: Ibn Saʿd al-Khaṭmī al-Madanī, freedman (mawlā) of the Anṣār. There is disagreement about him, and the correct is that he is trustworthy (thiqa). Except that at the end of his life he became confused, when he exceeded a hundred [years]. And we have elaborated the matter concerning him in the commentary on the Musnad: 2104, and Ibn Khuzayma and Ibn Ḥibbān narrated from him in their two Ṣaḥīḥs. He has a biography in al-Tahdhīb, and in al-Kabīr of al-Bukhārī 2/2/252 — in which he did not mention any criticism (jarḥ) of him — and [in] Ibn Saʿd 5:228, and Ibn Abī Ḥātim 2/1/338-339.
And Ibn Ḥibbān, in his Ṣaḥīḥ, in narrating this ḥadīth, clarified that it is Sharaḥbīl ibn Saʿd.
And the ḥadīth Ibn Ḥibbān narrated in his Ṣaḥīḥ (2:330 of the manuscript of al-Iḥsān), via Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥīm, on the authority of Zayd ibn Abī Unaysa, on the authority of Sharaḥbīl ibn Saʿd, on the authority of Jābir, with this [isnād].
And Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥīm is: Khālid ibn Abī Yazīd al-Ḥarrānī, and he is trustworthy (thiqa); Ibn Maʿīn and others declared him trustworthy. His narration is therefore an authentic corroborating witness (mutābaʿa), which renders trustworthy and supports the narration of Yaḥyā ibn Yazīd, which stands here.
And the ḥadīth Ibn Kathīr 2:332 rendered, from this narration of al-Ṭabarī.
And al-Mundhirī mentioned it in al-Targhīb wa-al-tarhīb 1:160-161, from the narration of Ibn Ḥibbān in his Ṣaḥīḥ, and he referred to it also previously, p. 128.
And al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-zawāʾid 2:37 and attributed it to al-Bazzār, and mentioned that "in its isnād Sharaḥbīl ibn Saʿd occurs, and he is weak according to the majority, [but] Ibn Ḥibbān mentioned him among the trustworthy and included this ḥadīth from him in his Ṣaḥīḥ."
And al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 2:114 and attributed it to Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Ḥibbān.
(46) The ḥadīth 8397: Khālid ibn Makhlad is: al-Qaṭawānī. And Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar is: Ibn Abī Kathīr. And a similar isnād has already passed in another ḥadīth: 2206.
And the ḥadīth Aḥmad narrated in the Musnad: 7208, via Shuʿba, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ, on the authority of his father, without the words "that is the ribāṭ".
And Aḥmad also narrated it: 7751, with these words — via Mālik, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ.
Then he narrated it a third time: 8008, (volume 2 p. 303, Ḥalabī edition), likewise via Mālik. And at the end of it: "that is the ribāṭ" — three times.
And it is with this wording in the Muwaṭṭaʾ, p. 161.
And likewise al-Nasāʾī narrated it 1:34, via Mālik.
And likewise Ibn Ḥibbān narrated it in his Ṣaḥīḥ (2:329-330 of the manuscript of al-Iḥsān), via Mālik.
And Ibn Kathīr 2:331 rendered it, from the narration of Ibn Abī Ḥātim, from the ḥadīth of Mālik, like the narration of the Muwaṭṭaʾ.
And Muslim 1:86 narrated it, via Mālik and via Shuʿba. And he mentioned that the narration of Mālik — with him — [has] "that is the ribāṭ" twice.
And al-Mundhirī mentioned it in al-Targhīb wa-al-tarhīb 1:97, 128, and attributed it to Mālik, Muslim, al-Tirmidhī and al-Nasāʾī.
And al-Suyūṭī mentioned it 2:114, and added the attribution to al-Shāfiʿī and ʿAbd al-Razzāq.
And see the isnād that follows this one.
(47) The ḥadīth 8398: Al-Qāsim is: Ibn al-Ḥasan, and al-Ḥusayn is: Ibn Dāwūd al-Miṣṣīṣī, with the nickname "Sunayd".
And this isnād "al-Qāsim, on the authority of al-Ḥusayn" occurs frequently in al-Ṭabarī, in the tafsīr and the history (al-tārīkh); what of it has passed in the tafsīr: 144, 165, 1688. And in the history — for example — 1:21, 41.
As for "Sunayd", we have given him a biography under: 144, 1688.
And as for "al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan" — the master (shaykh) of al-Ṭabarī: I have not found a biography for him. But in Tārīkh Baghdād 12:432-433 [stands] the biography of "al-Qāsim ibn al-Ḥasan ibn Yazīd, Abū Muḥammad al-Hamadhānī al-Ṣāʾigh", who died in the year 272. So it is possible that this is the one intended, but I am not at ease about that, and I cannot state it with certainty; indeed, I cannot even regard it as more probable.
And perhaps we shall find that which points to the true identity of this shaykh, on another occasion, if Allah wills.
Ismāʿīl is: Ibn Jaʿfar ibn Abī Kathīr al-Anṣārī al-Qāriʾ, and he is trustworthy and reliable (thiqa maʾmūn). The reference to him has already passed in the commentary on: 6884.
And this ḥadīth is a repetition of the preceding one.
And likewise Muslim 1:86 and al-Tirmidhī (no. 51 with our commentary) narrated it — both via Ismāʿīl ibn Jaʿfar. And al-Tirmidhī also narrated it: 52, via al-Darāwardī, on the authority of al-ʿAlāʾ. And he said: "The ḥadīth of Abū Hurayra is a good, authentic ḥadīth (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ)."
(48) See the explanation of "patience (al-ṣabr)" in what has passed earlier 2:11, 124 / 3:214, 349 / 5:352 / 6:264 / 7:181.
(49) In the printed edition: "wa-illā yakun ʿadaduhum (and so that their number would not be)", and that is an error; the correct is from the manuscript.
(50) In the manuscript: "as their number tethered their burden against them", and perhaps the correct reading of it is "jiyāduhum (their steeds)", but I have left what stands in the printed edition unchanged, for it is a good, correct [reading].
(51) "al-Rijla" (with ḍamma on the rāʾ and sukūn on the jīm): the going on foot, walking and not riding.
(52) His statement "ḥujja (proof)" is the subject of his statement "until something comes that [indicates] the contrary thereof...". And in the printed edition and the manuscript it had: "until something comes that [indicates] the contrary thereof, that obligates the turning...", and the correct is "mimmā yūjib (something that... obligates)" as I have established it; and in the printed edition [stands] also: "toward the hidden of its inspection (muʿāyana)", and that is a clear error.
(53) In the printed edition: "wa-tataqaddamū (and you anticipate)" with the wāw, and the correct is from the manuscript. And his statement "tataqaddamū nahyahu (you anticipate His prohibition)" has come thus transitively, as though he meant: or you precede His prohibition, and their preceding of His prohibition: that they should dare to hasten with their desires toward the forbidden matters, before the prohibition of Allah would restrain them from committing them.
(54) See the explanation of "laʿalla (so that)" in what has passed earlier 1:364, 365, and many other places. And see the explanation of "al-falāḥ (success)" in what has passed earlier 1:249, 250 / 3:561 / 7:91.
(55) At this place ends a portion of the old division from which our copy was taken, and in it stands the following:
"Hereupon follows the discourse on the explanation of the Sūra in which the women are mentioned [Sūrat al-Nisāʾ].
And may Allah abundantly bless our master Muḥammad, the Prophet, and his family and his companions, and grant them peace."
Then follows hereupon what we have established at the beginning of the tafsīr of Sūrat al-Nisāʾ.
