Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:39
So the angels called him while he was standing in prayer in the chamber, "Indeed, Allah gives you good tidings of John, confirming a word from Allah and [who will be] honorable, abstaining [from women], and a prophet from among the righteous."
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.
Discussion of the interpretation of His word: "Then the angels called to him"
Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed over the reading of it.
The general body of reciters of the people of Medina and some of the people of Kūfa and Basra read it: "fa-nādat-hu al-malāʾika" (then the angels called to him) in the feminine form with the tāʾ, by which is meant: the collective body of "the angels." And thus do the Arabs deal with a group of male beings when their verbs precede them: they then put their verbs in the feminine form, especially with those nouns in whose wording lies the feminine, as in their saying: "jāʾat al-Ṭalḥāt" (the Ṭalḥas [men] came).
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A group of the people of Kūfa read it with the yāʾ, with the meaning: fa-nādāhu Jibrīl (then Jibrīl called to him), putting the [verb] in the masculine form on account of the interpretation [of the angels as Jibrīl], just as we have just mentioned that they put the verb of the masculine in the feminine form on account of the wording; thus likewise they put the verb of the feminine in the masculine form on account of the wording. And they based themselves in this, as I believe, upon a reading which is reported to be the reading of ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd, and that is what:
6945 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq ibn al-Ḥajjāj related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, that the reading of Ibn Masʿūd is: (fa-nādāhu Jibrīl wa-huwa qāʾimun yuṣallī fī l-miḥrāb) (then Jibrīl called to him while he was standing praying in the prayer-niche).
* * *
And thus also a group of the interpreters explained His word "then the angels called to him."
Mention of who said that:
6946 - Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "then the angels called to him" — and that is Jibrīl = or: the angels said, and that is Jibrīl = "that Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā."
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: If a speaker were to say: How is it permissible according to this interpretation to say "then the angels called to him," while "the angels" is a plural and not a singular? — then it is said: That is permissible in the speech of the Arabs, that one reports about the singular in the form of the plural, as is said in speech: "so-and-so went out upon the mules of the postal couriers," while he rode only a single mule = "and he boarded the ships," while he boarded only a single ship. And as is said: "from whom did you hear this report?" to which the answer is: "from the people," while he heard it only from a single man. And it has been said that to this belongs His word: "Those to whom the people said: Verily, the people have gathered against you" [sūra Āl ʿImrān: 173], while the speaker — according to what is reported — was a single individual = and His word: "And when adversity touches the people" [sūra al-Rūm: 33], where "the people" has the meaning of a single individual. And that is permissible among them in that wherein the singular was not specifically intended.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct of the statement, according to my judgment, concerning the reading of it, is that they are two well-known readings = I mean the "tāʾ" and the "yāʾ" = so that with whichever of the two the reciter reads, he acts correctly. That is because there is no difference in meaning through the difference of the two readings, and they are both eloquent among the Arabs. For if by "the angels" Jibrīl is meant, as is transmitted from ʿAbdallāh, then making its verb feminine is eloquent in the speech of the Arabs on account of the wording, when the verb precedes it. And the masculine form is permissible therein on account of the meaning.
And if thereby the collective body of "the angels" is meant, then in its verb the feminine form is permissible, and it precedes it, on account of the wording. That is because the Arabs, when they make the verb precede the numerous group, put it in the feminine form, so that they say: "qālat al-nisāʾ" (the women said). And the masculine form is permissible in its verb, based upon the singular, when its verb precedes it, so that it is said: "qāla al-rijāl" (the men said).
* * *
As for the correct of the statement about the interpretation of it: it must be said that Allah, exalted is His praise, reported that the angels called to him. And the evident of it is that it is a group of the angels, not the single individual, while Jibrīl is a single individual.
And it is not permissible that the interpretation of the Qurʾān be carried upon something other than the most evident and most frequent of the speech that is customary in the tongues of the Arabs, and not upon the least frequent = so long as a way to that is found. And no need has compelled us to bend that toward the meaning of a single individual, so that one would have to seek refuge for it in the hidden of the speech and the meanings.
And with what we have said about that by way of interpretation, a group of the people of knowledge have spoken, among them: Qatāda, and al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, and ʿIkrima, and Mujāhid, and a group of others besides them. And we have already mentioned what they said about that in what has passed.
* * *
Discussion of the interpretation of His word: "while he was standing praying in the prayer-niche, that Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā"
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the interpretation of His word "while he was standing" is: the angels called to him in the state that he was standing praying. His word "while he was standing" is thus a report about the time of the angels' call to Zakariyyā.
And His word "yuṣallī" (praying) stands in the position of an accusative as a circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) to "the standing," and it is in the nominative with the yāʾ.
* * *
As for "the miḥrāb" (the prayer-niche): we have already set forth its meaning, namely that it is the front part of the mosque.
* * *
The reciters differed over the reading of His word: "anna llāha yubashshiruka" (that Allah gives you glad tidings).
The general body of reciters read it: (anna llāha) with fatḥa on the "alif" of "anna," because the "call" falls upon it, with the meaning: the angels called to him with it.
* * *
And some of the reciters of the people of Kūfa read it: (inna llāha yubashshiruka) with kasra on the "alif," with the meaning: the angels said: verily, Allah gives you glad tidings, for the call is an utterance. And they mentioned that in the reading of ʿAbdallāh it is: (fa-nādat-hu al-malāʾika wa-huwa qāʾimun yuṣallī fī l-miḥrāb yā Zakariyyā inna llāha yubashshiruka) (then the angels called to him while he was standing praying in the prayer-niche: O Zakariyyā, verily Allah gives you glad tidings). They said: and when it is excluded that the "call" operates upon His word "yā Zakariyyā," then it is likewise excluded that it operates upon "inna."
* * *
And the correct of the reading of it, according to our judgment, is: "anna llāha yubashshiruka" with fatḥa on "anna," because the call falls upon it, with the meaning: the angels called to him with it.
And the ground upon which those who read with kasra on "inna" relied = namely that ʿAbdallāh used to read it thus, so that they too read it thus = is for them no [valid] ground. That is because ʿAbdallāh, if he read it thus, only read it thus — according to their claim — while the call to Zakariyyā [namely "yā Zakariyyā"] was inserted between "inna" and His word "fa-nādat-hu." And when that is inserted in between, then the Arabs in that case either make the call operate upon "anna," or they leave it without effect upon it. As for leaving it without effect: that is because it has become without effect upon the one called who precedes it, so that they let what comes after it follow the same course in its remaining without effect. And as for making it operate: that is because the call is a transitive verb, like the rest of the verbs.
And as for our reading: with us the call to Zakariyyā with "yā Zakariyyā" is not inserted between "anna" and His word "fa-nādat-hu." And when that does not stand in between, then the eloquent speech of the Arabs — when they, with the utterance "nādaytu" (I called), put the name of the one called in the accusative and let the [verb] fall upon it — is that they likewise let it fall upon "anna" thereafter. And although leaving it without effect is permissible, yet His word "nādat-hu" has already fallen upon the personal pronoun of "Zakariyyā," so that it is likewise correct that it falls upon "anna" and operates upon it.
* * *
In addition to that, that is the widespread reading in the reading of the regions of Islam. And one does not bring the anomalous [shādhdh] against the community [of reciters] who possess the course of the proof.
* * *
As for His word "yubashshiruka": the reciters differed over the reading of it.
The general body of reciters of the people of Medina and Basra read it: (anna llāha yubashshiruka) with doubling (tashdīd) of the "shīn" and ḍamma on the "yāʾ," in accordance with the glad announcement of Allah to Zakariyyā concerning the child, derived from the saying of the people: "bashsharat fulānan al-bushrāʾu bi-kadhā wa-kadhā," that is to say: the bearers of glad tidings brought him the glad tidings about that.
* * *
And a group of the reciters of Kūfa and others read it: (anna llāha yabshuruka) with fatḥa on the "yāʾ" and ḍamma on the "shīn" with lightening (takhfīf), with the meaning: that Allah gladdens you with a child whom He grants you, derived from the word of the poet:
I gladdened my family when I saw a writing / that came to you from al-Ḥajjāj, whose letter was read aloud.
And it has been said: "bashartu" is the language of the people of Tihāma among the Kināna and others among the Quraysh, and that they say: "bashartu fulānan bi-kadhā, fa-anā abshuruhu bashran," and "hal anta bāshirun bi-kadhā?" And there is recited from them the verse about that:
And when you see those who yearn for loftiness, / dusty of hand, in a barren, unfruitful plain,
then help them, and rejoice over that over which they rejoiced, / and when they descend into hardship, then descend.
And when they pass over to the imperative, then the pure speech in their language is without the alif, so that it is said: "ibshur fulānan bi-kadhā," and they hardly ever say: "bashshirhu bi-kadhā, nor abshirhu."
* * *
And it is transmitted from Ḥumayd ibn Qays that he used to read it: (yubshiruka) with ḍamma on the "yāʾ" and kasra on the "shīn" with lightening. And already:
6947 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Abī Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Muʿādh al-Kūfī, who said: Whoever reads (yubashshiruhum) with doubling, he [derives it] from the "bishāra" (glad tiding), and whoever reads (yabshuruhum) with lightening, with fatḥa on the "yāʾ," he [derives it] from the "surūr" (joy), [with the meaning] that it gladdens them.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And the reading which with us is the [preferred] reading of it, is with ḍamma on the "yāʾ" and doubling of the "shīn," with the meaning of "tabshīr" (the bringing of glad tiding). For that is the current language and the widespread, well-known speech among the people, in addition to which all the reciters of the regions are unanimous in the reading of "fa-bima tubashshirūna" [sūra al-Ḥijr: 54] with the doubling. And the correct in all other similar places in the Qurʾān is that it is like it in the doubling and the ḍamma on the "yāʾ."
* * *
And as for what is transmitted from Muʿādh al-Kūfī regarding the distinction between the meaning of the lightening and the doubling therein: we have not found that the people of knowledge concerning the speech of the Arabs know that by a valid way. There is therefore no meaning to what is reported from him about that, and Jarīr ibn ʿAṭiyya already said:
O Bishr, it is fitting that to your face the tabshīr should belong, / why did you not grow angry on our behalf, while you are governor!
For it is known that by his word "al-tabshīr" he meant beauty, freshness and joy; he thus said "al-tabshīr" and did not say "al-bishr," so that this shows that the meaning of the lightening and the heaviness therein is one and the same.
* * *
6948 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, about His word: "verily Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā," he said: the angels brought him glad tidings with it.
* * *
As for His word "bi-Yaḥyā": it is a name whose origin is "yafʿalu," derived from the saying of the speaker: "ḥayiya fulānun fa-huwa yaḥyā," and that is when he lives. "Fa-yaḥyā" is thus "yafʿalu" from their saying "ḥayiya."
And it has been said: Allah, exalted is His praise, named him with it, because his name is interpreted: He made him live through faith (īmān).
Mention of who said that:
6949 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "that Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā," he says: a servant whom Allah made live through faith.
6950 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Qatāda, about His word: "verily Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā," he said: he was named Yaḥyā only because Allah made him live through faith.
* * *
Discussion of the interpretation of His word: "confirming a word from Allah"
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by this: that Allah gives you, O Zakariyyā, glad tidings of Yaḥyā as a son for you, = "confirming a word from Allah," by which He means: ʿĪsā the son of Maryam.
* * *
And the accusative of His word "muṣaddiqan" (confirming) is on the basis of the circumstantial qualifier (ḥāl) derived from "Yaḥyā," because "muṣaddiqan" is a quality of it, and it is indefinite, while "Yaḥyā" is not indefinite.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said about that, the interpreters spoke.
Mention of who said that:
6951 - ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad al-Ṭufāwī related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿa related to us, he said: al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said: The wife of Zakariyyā said to Maryam: Verily, I find that what is in my belly moves toward what is in your belly! He said: Then the wife of Zakariyyā gave birth to Yaḥyā, and Maryam to ʿĪsā, and therefore He said: "confirming a word from Allah," he said: Yaḥyā confirms ʿĪsā.
6952 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of al-Ruqāshī, about the word of Allah: "He gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā, confirming a word from Allah," he said: who confirms ʿĪsā the son of Maryam.
6953 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the same.
6954 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Sulaymān related to us, he said: Abū Hilāl related to us, he said: Qatāda related to us, about His word: "confirming a word from Allah," he said: who confirms ʿĪsā.
6955 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "confirming a word from Allah," he says: who confirms ʿĪsā the son of Maryam, and [follows] upon his way (sunna) and his method.
6956 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, about His word: "confirming a word from Allah," he means: ʿĪsā the son of Maryam.
6957 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbdallāh ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Qatāda: "confirming a word from Allah," he says: who confirms ʿĪsā the son of Maryam, he says: upon his way and his method.
6958 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ: "confirming a word from Allah," he said: he was the first man who confirmed ʿĪsā, and he [ʿĪsā] is a word from Allah and a spirit.
6959 - Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "confirming a word from Allah," he confirms ʿĪsā.
6960 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying, about His word: "verily Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā, confirming a word from Allah": Yaḥyā was the first to confirm ʿĪsā and to testify that he is a word from Allah, and Yaḥyā was the son of the maternal aunt of ʿĪsā, and he was older than ʿĪsā.
6961 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Isrāʾīl, on the authority of Simāk, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, about His word: "confirming a word from Allah," he said: ʿĪsā the son of Maryam, he is the word of Allah, his name is al-Masīḥ.
6962 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj informed me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: His word: "confirming a word from Allah," he said: ʿĪsā and Yaḥyā were the sons of two maternal aunts, and the mother of Yaḥyā used to say to Maryam: Verily, I find that what is in my belly prostrates itself to what is in your belly! That is thus his confirmation of ʿĪsā: his prostration in the belly of his mother. And he is the first to confirm ʿĪsā and the word of ʿĪsā, and Yaḥyā was older than ʿĪsā.
6963 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "that Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā, confirming a word from Allah," he said: the word which he confirmed: ʿĪsā.
6964 - Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: The mother of Yaḥyā met the mother of ʿĪsā, while the former was pregnant with Yaḥyā and the latter was pregnant with ʿĪsā. Then the wife of Zakariyyā said: O Maryam, I sense that I am pregnant! Maryam said: I too sense that I am pregnant! The wife of Zakariyyā said: Verily, I find that what is in my belly prostrates itself to what is in your belly! That is thus His word: "confirming a word from Allah."
6965 - Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, he said: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, about the word of Allah: "that Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā, confirming a word from Allah," he said: who confirms ʿĪsā the son of Maryam.
* * *
Abū Jaʿfar said: And some of the people of knowledge concerning the languages of the Arabs from Basra claimed that the meaning of His word "confirming a word from Allah" is: with a writing from Allah, derived from the saying of the Arabs: "so-and-so recited to me a kalima of such-and-such," by which is meant: a poem of such-and-such = out of his ignorance concerning the interpretation of "the kalima" (the word), and out of audacity to translate [interpret] the Qurʾān according to his own opinion.
* * *
Discussion of the interpretation of His word: "and a lord (sayyid)"
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by His word "and a sayyid": and a noble one in knowledge and worship.
* * *
And the accusative of "al-sayyid" is by conjunction to His word "muṣaddiqan."
* * *
And the interpretation of the utterance is: that Allah gives you glad tidings of Yaḥyā, who confirms this, and as a lord.
* * *
"And al-sayyid" is the form "al-fayʿil" from the saying of the speaker: "sāda yasūdu," as:
6966 - Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and a lord" — yes by Allah, indeed a lord in worship, gentleness, knowledge and piety.
6967 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Muslim related to us, he said: Abū Hilāl related to us, he said: Qatāda related to us, about His word: "and a lord," he said: the lord — I know it only as: in knowledge and worship.
6968 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Qatāda, he said: the lord is the gentle one.
6969 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: my father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Sālim al-Afṭas, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "and a lord," he said: the gentle one.
6970 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: al-Ḥimmānī related to us, he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Sālim, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "and a lord," he said: the lord is the God-fearing one.
6971 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, about the word of Allah, mighty and exalted: "and a lord," he said: the lord is the noble one with Allah.
6972 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, he said: al-Ruqāshī claimed that the lord is the noble one with Allah.
6973 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, he said: Hushaym informed us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, about the word of Allah, mighty and exalted: "and a lord," he said: the lord is the gentle, God-fearing one.
6974 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying about His word: "and a lord," he said, he says: God-fearing, gentle.
6975 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Isḥāq related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Mahdī related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, about His word: "and a lord," he said: gentle, God-fearing.
6976 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, on the authority of Ibn Zayd, about His word: "and a lord," he said: the lord: the noble one.
6977 - Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, he said: Baqiyya ibn al-Walīd related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, about the word of Allah, mighty and exalted: "and a lord," he said: the lord is the learned jurist (faqīh).
6978 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, he said: my father related to me, he said: my uncle related to me, he said: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and a lord," he said, he says: gentle, God-fearing.
6979 - Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Abū Bakr, on the authority of ʿIkrima: "and a lord," he said: the lord is the one who is not overcome by anger.
* * *
Discussion of the interpretation of His word: "and chaste (ḥaṣūr), and a prophet from the righteous" (3:39)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by this: abstaining from sexual intercourse with women, derived from the saying of the speaker: "ḥaṣirtu min kadhā aḥṣar," when one abstains from it. And to this belongs their saying: "ḥaṣira fulānun fī qirāʾatihi," when he abstains from reciting and is unable to do it. And thus is "ḥaṣr al-ʿaduww": their [the enemies'] enclosing of the people and preventing them from free movement. Therefore the one who distributes nothing among his drinking companions was called "ḥaṣūr," as al-Akhṭal said:
And many a profit-making drinker at the cup kept me company, / not the miserly one (ḥaṣūr), and not therein one [who leaves the rest in the cup] (bi-sawwār).
And it is also recited: "bi-saʾʾār." And one also calls the one who does not bring out his secret and conceals it "ḥaṣūr," because he prevents his secret from revealing itself, as Jarīr said:
And indeed the slanderers tested me by temptation, but they found / one who masters your secret, O Umayma, holding fast.
And the origin of all of that is one, and that is preventing and holding in.
* * *
And in accordance with what we have said about that, the interpreters spoke.
Mention of who said that:
6980 - Abū Kurayb related to us, he said: Ibn Khalaf related to us, he said: Ḥammād ibn Shuʿayb related to us, on the authority of ʿĀṣim, on the authority of Zirr, on the authority of ʿAbdallāh, about His word: "and a lord, and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not come to women.
6981 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, that he said: Ibn al-ʿĀṣ related to me: that he heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ saying: Every child of Ādam will come on the Day of Resurrection bearing a sin, except as regards Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā. He said: Then the Messenger of Allah ﷺ lowered his hand toward the ground, and took a small piece of wood, and then said: That is because he possessed not what the men possess [of manhood], except the like of this piece of wood, and therefore Allah named him "a lord and a ḥaṣūr."
6982 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ informed us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, he said: I heard Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib saying: There is no one but he meets Allah on the Day of Resurrection bearing a sin, except Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā; he was a ḥaṣūr, and with him was the like of a fringe-thread.
6983 - Aḥmad ibn al-Walīd al-Qurashī related to us, he said: ʿUmar ibn Jaʿfar related to us, he said: Shuʿba related to us, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, he said: Ibn al-ʿĀṣ said — whether ʿAbdallāh or his father —: There is no one who meets Allah but he has a sin, except Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā. He said: and Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib said: "and a lord and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who has no intercourse with women, and what he had with him was only the like of the fringe of the garment.
6984 - Saʿīd ibn ʿAmr al-Sakūnī related to me, he said: Baqiyya ibn al-Walīd related to us, on the authority of ʿAbd al-Malik, on the authority of Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib, about His word: "and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who has no desire for women. Then he struck the ground with his hand and took a date-stone and said: what he had with him was only the like of this.
6985 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Raḥmān related to us, he said: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not come to women.
6986 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd, the same.
6987 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Ḥakkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAmr, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, on the authority of Saʿīd, the same.
6988 - ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn al-Aswad related to me, he said: Muḥammad ibn Rabīʿa related to us, he said: al-Naḍr ibn ʿArabī related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid: "and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the one who does not come to women.
6989 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: the ḥaṣūr: he does not approach women.
6990 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, he said: Shibl related to us, he said: al-Ruqāshī claimed: "the ḥaṣūr" is the one who does not approach women.
6991 - Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: ʿAmr ibn ʿAwn related to us, he said: Hushaym related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk: "the ḥaṣūr," the one who gets no offspring, and who has no seed.
6992 - It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn ibn al-Faraj, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh saying: ʿUbayd ibn Sulaymān informed us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk saying about His word: "and a ḥaṣūr," he said: it is the one who has no seed.
6993 - Bishr related to us, he said: Suwayd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and a ḥaṣūr," we used to relate that the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not approach women.
6994 - Ibn Bashshār related to us, he said: Sulaymān related to us, he said: Abū Hilāl related to us, he said: Qatāda related to us, about His word: "and a lord and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not come to women.
6995 - It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār ibn al-Ḥasan, he said: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Qatāda, the same.
6996 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, he said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, he said: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, the same.
6997 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, he said: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Qābūs, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who causes no seed to descend.
6998 - Yūnus related to me, he said: Ibn Wahb informed us, on the authority of Ibn Zayd: "and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not come to women.
6999 - Mūsā related to me, he said: ʿAmr related to us, he said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "and a ḥaṣūr," he said: the ḥaṣūr is the one who does not want women.
7000 - Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to me, he said: Abū Bakr al-Ḥanafī related to us, on the authority of ʿAbbād, on the authority of al-Ḥasan: "and a ḥaṣūr," he said: he does not approach women.
* * *
And as for His word "and a prophet from the righteous": He means by it: a messenger from his Lord to his people, who informs them on His behalf of His command and His prohibition, and His permitted and His forbidden, and who conveys to them on His behalf that with which He sent him to them.
* * *
And He means by His word "from the righteous": from His righteous prophets.
* * *
And we have already in what has passed pointed to the meaning of "prophethood (al-nubuwwa)" and what its origin is, with the proofs for it and the indications that point to the correct of the statement about it, in a manner that dispenses us from repeating it.
------------------------
The footnotes:
(11) That is to say the reading of whoever read "fa-nādāhu" with imāla, and its written form in the muṣḥaf is then "fa-nādīh" with the yāʾ, and that is the reading of Ḥamza and al-Kisāʾī.
(12) See p. 362.
(13) In the manuscript: "fa-nādāhu al-malāʾika."
(14) See what is earlier, 1: 292, 293 / 4: 191.
(15) See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 210.
(16) In the printed edition: "wa-huwa min qiblihā" and the correct is according to the manuscript.
(17) In the manuscript and the printed edition: "fa-lan yajūz...," and the most probably correct is what I have established.
(18) Nothing of this has passed in the story of Zakariyyā and Maryam, and I fear that in the manuscript copies which we have in hand there is an abridgment at this place.
(19) See what has just passed, p. 357, 358.
(20) In the printed edition: "that ʿAbdallāh used to read it thus, and that is because ʿAbdallāh...," wherein from the text of the manuscript there was omitted what I have established "fa-qaraʾūhā kadhālika," and the sentence thereafter remained deficient; from it had fallen out the predicate of "wa-laysat al-ʿilla...," so that I deduced from the context of his word that the copyist had dropped his word "lahum bi-ʿilla," and I have added it between brackets; and the context is "wa-laysat al-ʿilla... lahum bi-ʿilla."
(21) In the printed edition: "and already it was inserted with yā Zakariyyā," and in the manuscript: "bi-hādhā Zakariyyā," and the correct reading of it is what I have established. And in the manuscript there also stands "fa-nādāhu" in place of "fa-nādat-hu."
(22) In the printed edition: "fa-innahu baṭala ʿan al-ʿamal," and I have established what is in the manuscript, and that is the correct.
(23) The "falling verb" (al-fiʿl al-wāqiʿ): that is the transitive verb, as has passed; see the index of terms in what has passed, and the "falling" (al-wuqūʿ) is transitivity.
(24) In the manuscript: "wa-ammā qirāʾatuhā," and the correct is what is in the printed edition.
(25) The "falling verb": that is the transitive verb, as has passed; see the index of terms in what has passed, and the "falling" is transitivity.
(26) See the elaboration of what al-Ṭabarī has rendered concisely in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 210, 211.
(27) In the manuscript and the printed edition: "al-bushrā" in place of "al-bushrāʾu" in both places, and the correct is what I have established; it is clear that the copyist saw it as "al-bushrā" without hamza as in the old script, so that he took it for "al-bushrā" and wrote it thus.
(28) I have not been able to ascertain its sayer.
(29) Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ, and he said: "one of the Arabs recited this to me."
(30) It is ʿAbd Qays ibn Khufāf al-Burjumī.
(31) Al-Aṣmaʿiyyāt no. 87, and al-Mufaḍḍaliyyāt no. 116, and Lisān al-ʿArab (krb) (bshr) (ysr), and Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 212, and other reference works. It is his counsel to his son Jubayl, and it belongs to wise poetry. "Bahasha ilā al-shayʾ": he rejoiced over it and hastened toward it; and their transmission is "ilā al-nadā," and that is generosity. And "al-qāʿ": a flat, even ground from which the mountains and hills recede, without pebbles in it, nor stones, and which brings forth no trees. And "al-mumḥil": the barren. He says: When you see the noble generous ones, whom the drought and the scarcity and the barrenness have exhausted until their hands have become dusty from the little they find and the much they have spent in support of the people.. then help them.
(32) "Wa-bshar" is from "bashira" on the pattern of (fariḥa), "yabshar" (with fatḥa on the shīn); one says: "atānī amrun bashirtu bihi," that is to say I rejoiced over it. He says: Share with them in their cheerfulness and their joy over generosity, despite what they undergo of the exhaustion of the drought. And "al-ḍank": the hardship. He says: be with the noble ones wherever they are, and descend with them upon every dwelling-place to which their nobility has made them descend, in hardship and need.
(33) See the interpretation of "bushrā" and "bishr" in what was treated earlier, 1: 383 / 2: 393 / 3: 221 / 6: 287.
(34) His dīwān: 301, and Ṭabaqāt fuḥūl al-shuʿarāʾ: 378, and others. From his poem which he said to Bishr ibn Marwān, and with him had come to Iraq Surāqa al-Bāriqī, and Bishr used to sow discord between the poets; he incited Surāqa against Jarīr until the latter reviled him. Then Jarīr left Bishr alone, indeed even praised him, and seized Surāqa by the throat to strangle him until he disgraced him. And he reproached Bishr with the reproach of one who feigns ignorance concerning the affair of Bishr, while he knows it. And this verse points to that. In the printed edition stood: "ḥuqqa li-bishrika al-tabshīr," and that is through the negligence of the editor, like his earlier negligence; and the correct stands in the manuscript and the other reference works.
(35) In the printed edition: "He means by His word, exalted is His praise," and the correct is according to the manuscript.
(36) The "cutting off" (al-qaṭʿ): the circumstantial qualifier (al-ḥāl), as has passed several times, the last time p. 327 note 2, and the reference works there.
(37) In the printed edition: "muṣaddiq... wa-ʿalā sunanihi," and I have established what is in the manuscript.
(38) The prostration (al-sujūd) here: the submission, the bowing and the humility, not the prostration of the prayer and worship. The prostration of the prayer is only a figurative usage (majāz) derived from this origin, and see the interpretation of it in what is earlier, 2: 104, 105.
(39) It is Abū ʿUbayda Maʿmar ibn al-Muthannā in his book Majāz al-Qurʾān 1: 91.
(40) The "translation" of the Qurʾān (tarjamat al-Qurʾān) is its interpretation and its clarification, and see what is earlier, 1: 70, note 1, and see the index of terms. And since Abū Jaʿfar reckons this as audacity against the interpretation of the Book of Allah, I would indeed like to know what he would then say about those who in our era have risen up to attack the Book of Allah with that beside which the statement of Abū ʿUbayda is reckoned as mere praise, asking for forgiveness, and devotion in worship!!
(41) See what is earlier, 3: 319.
(42) His dīwān: 116, and Majāz al-Qurʾān 1: 92, and Ṭabaqāt fuḥūl al-shuʿarāʾ: 432, and al-Lisān (ḥṣr) (sʾr) (swr), from his poem which he said to Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya, when the latter refused him [something] after he had reviled the Anṣār in a well-known story. And in the manuscript "murjiḥ bi-l-kaʾs," and that is an error. And "al-murbiḥ": the one who gives the merchant profit, he means that he overdoes the price of the wine without caring about what he spends on it. And "al-sawwār": the one in whose brain the wine rises, so that he rages against his brothers and drinking companions with a malicious raging; and the wine reveals among them the natures of those who drink it. And as for the transmission "saʾʾār" which he will mention: that is from "al-suʾr": and that is the remainder of the wine in the cup. He means that he is an addicted drinker, who does not desist from the wine, and leaves no remainder in his cup out of lack of patience, or out of poor endurance of its severity.
(43) His dīwān: 578, and Majāz al-Qurʾān 1: 92, and al-Lisān (ḥṣr) (sqṭ), and the transmission of these books, and in the printed edition: "tasaqqaṭanī," they altered what is in the manuscript, as I have established it. "Tasaqqaṭahu" and "istasqaṭahu": he sought out his misstep and his fall, so that something might escape him whereby he is seized upon. From "al-saqaṭ" (with two fatḥas): and that is the error in the utterance, or from "al-saqṭa" (with fatḥa then sukūn): and that is the stumbling and the slipping. And as for what occurs in the manuscript: "tasāqaṭanī," that I deem good. It is good to say "sāqaṭahu" with the meaning of "tasaqqaṭahu and istasqaṭahu," and as though "al-siqāṭ" with the meaning of the stumbling and the slipping is the maṣdar of "sāqaṭahu," and Suwayd ibn Abī Kāhil already said:
How do they hope for my stumbling, after / the head is covered over by greyness and baldness?
As though he disputes the utterance with him, until he falls and slips, and that is the same meaning as in "tasaqqaṭahu and istasqaṭahu," and when it is permissible in pure Arabic, then there is no reason to reject it. And in the manuscript the copyist omitted "Umayma" from the verse and left a blank in that place, in which he placed a red dot.
(44) The transmission 6981 - see the note at transmission 6983.
(45) The ḥadīth 6983 - al-Ṭabarī related it before this: 6981, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn al-Musayyib: "Ibn al-ʿĀṣ related to me..." - and he mentioned it at length in ascending [marfūʿ] form. Then he related it here on the authority of Ibn al-Musayyib, on the authority of Ibn al-ʿĀṣ - with the doubt as to whether it is "ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr" or "his father" - in halting [mawqūf] form. And Ibn Kathīr mentioned it 2: 135, from the transmission of Ibn Abī Ḥātim - with this doubt - but it is with him marfūʿ. Then he mentioned it p. 135-136, likewise from the transmission of Ibn Abī Ḥātim "on the authority of ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ" - in mawqūf form. And he described the marfūʿ as "very strange (gharīb jiddan)." Then he said after the mawqūf: "This mawqūf is sounder of isnād than the marfūʿ." And likewise al-Suyūṭī mentioned 2: 22 the marfūʿ and the mawqūf, and he said: "and it is stronger of isnād than the marfūʿ."
(46) See the interpretation of "al-ṣāliḥ" (the righteous) in what was treated earlier, 3: 91.
(47) See the interpretation of "al-nabī" (the prophet) in what was treated earlier, 2: 140-142.
This, and at this place ended a part of the old division from which our copy is transcribed, and here was written what reads as text:
"There follows hereafter, if Allah wills, the discussion of the interpretation of His word:
He said: My Lord, how shall I have a boy while old age has reached me and my wife is barren.
And all praise belongs to Allah alone for His beneficence, and may Allah bless Muḥammad and his family and his companions and grant peace."
Then there follows hereupon what reads as text:
"In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
My Lord, make it easy.
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī said."
