Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   And His word: (الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ) (Who has made excellent everything that He has created). The reciters differed concerning its reading. Some reciters of Mecca, Medina, and Basra read it: (أحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ) with sukūn on the lām (that is, "khalqahu" — the creation thereof). And some Medinans and the generality of the Kufans read it: (أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ) with fatḥa on the lām (that is, "khalaqahu" — which He created).

   The correct judgment concerning this, in my opinion, is to say: they are two well-known readings, each of which has been recited by scholars among the reciters, both correct in meaning; and that is because Allah has made His creation excellent, and has made excellent everything that He created. With whichever of the two the reciter recites, he is correct.

   The exegetes differed concerning its meaning. Some of them said: its meaning is: He made everything perfect and firm.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Al-ʿAbbās ibn Abī Ṭālib related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn ibn Ibrāhīm — Ishkāb — related to us, saying: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: (الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ); he said: truly, the hindquarters of the ape are not beautiful, but He made the creation thereof firm.

   Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Abū al-Naḍr related to us, saying: Abū Saʿīd al-Muʾaddib related to us, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, that he used to recite it as: (الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ); he said: truly, the hindquarters of the ape are not beautiful, but He made it firm.

   Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us — both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ); he said: He made perfect everything that He created.

   Muḥammad ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Isrāʾīl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ): He counted everything (encompassed it entirely).

   And others said: no, its meaning is: He who made the creation of everything beautiful.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: (الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ); He made it beautiful in the manner in which He created it.

   And it has been transmitted on the authority of al-Ḥajjāj, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of al-Aʿraj, on the authority of Mujāhid, he said: it is equivalent to أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى (He gave to everything its creation and then guided them); he said: He did not place the creation of cattle in the creation of humans, nor the creation of humans in the creation of cattle, but He created everything and determined it precisely.

   And others said: no, its meaning is: He imparted knowledge to everything that He created — as though they directed the interpretation of the words to the meaning that He inspired His creation with what they needed, and that His word (أَحْسَنَ) is derived from the saying of someone: "so-and-so yuḥsinu such-and-such," when he knows (understands) it.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Khaṣīf, on the authority of Mujāhid: (أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ); he said: He gave to everything its creation; he said: the human [adapted] to the human, the horse to the horse, and the donkey to the donkey. According to this view, "al-khalq" and "al-kull" are in the accusative because (أحسن) acts upon them.

   And the correct of the views concerning this, in my opinion, according to the reading of one who recites it as: (الَّذِي أحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ) with fatḥa on the lām, is the view of one who says: its meaning is "He made it perfect and firm"; for there is no meaning for it, if it is recited thus, except one of two possibilities: either this which we have said, namely the meaning of perfection and soundness, or the meaning of beautification, which has the meaning of beauty and splendor. Since among His creation there are things whose ugliness and unsightliness is not doubted, it is known that what is meant thereby is not that He made beautiful everything that He created, but rather its meaning is that He made it firm and made its fashioning sound. As for the other reading, which is with sukūn on the lām, then the most fitting interpretation of it is the view of one who says: its meaning is: He imparted knowledge to everything that He created and inspired it; He is the one who best equips them, as He has said: الَّذِي أعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى (Who gave to everything its creation and then guided them); for that is the most manifest of its meanings. As for the one who directed the interpretation thereof to the meaning: "He who made beautiful the creation of everything," he placed "al-khalq" in the accusative by way of specification (tamyīz), as though He said: "He who made everything beautiful as to its creation." And some of them used to say: it belongs to the construction in which the preposed has the meaning of the postposed (taqdīm wa-taʾkhīr), and they direct it to the position that corresponds to the saying of the poet:

   "And my departure to you when the night enveloped me, truly I am for such a thing a resolute man, when the coward fears" —

   he means: and my departure to you when the sides of the night enveloped me. And it is equivalent to the saying of the other:

   "As though Hind — her front teeth and her radiance on the day we met, at the dens of Dabbāb" —

   that is to say: as though the front teeth of Hind and her radiance.

   And His word: (وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ الإِنْسَانِ مِنْ طِينٍ) (And He began the creation of man from clay); the Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and He began the creation of Adam from clay.

   Show original Arabic

   وقوله: ( الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) اختلفت القرّاء في قراءة ذلك، فقرأه بعض قراء مكة والمدينة والبصرة (أحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ) بسكون اللام. وقرأه بعض المدنيين وعامة الكوفيين ( أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) بفتح اللام. والصواب من القول في ذلك عندي أن يقال: إنهما قراءتان مشهورتان، قد قرأ بكل واحدة منهما علماء من القرّاء صحيحتا المعنى، وذلك أن الله أحكم خلقه، وأحكم كل شيء خلَقه، فبأيتهما قرأ القارئ فمصيب. واختلف أهل التأويل في معنى ذلك، فقال بعضهم: معناه: أتقن كلّ شيء وأحكمه. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني العباس بن أبي طالب، قال: ثنا الحسين بن إبراهيم إشكاب (2) قال: ثنا شريك، عن خَصيف عن عكرمة، عن ابن عباس في قوله: ( الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) قال: أما إن است القرد ليست بحسنة، ولكن أحكم خلقها. حدثنا ابن وكيع، قال: ثنا أبو النضر، قال: ثنا أبو سعيد المؤدّب، عن خصيف، عن عكرمة، عن ابن عباس، أنه كان يقرؤها: ( الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) قال: أما إن است القرد ليست بحسنة ولكنه أحكمها. حدثني محمد بن عمرو، قال: ثنا أبو عاصم، قال: ثنا عيسى، وحدثني الحارث، قال: ثنا الحسن، قال: ثنا ورقاء، جميعا عن ابن أبي نجيح، عن مجاهد ( أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) قال: أتقن كلّ شيء خلقه. حدثني محمد بن عمارة، قال: ثنا عبد الله بن موسى، قال: ثنا إسرائيل، عن ابن أبي نجيح، عن مجاهد ( أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ ) : أحصى كلّ شيء. وقال آخرون: بل معنى ذلك: الذي حسن خلق كل شيء. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قَتادة قوله: ( الَّذِي أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) حسن على نحو ما خلق. وذُكر عن الحجاج، عن ابن جُرَيج، عن الأعرج، عن مجاهد قال: هو مثل أَعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى قال: فلم يجعل خلق البهائم في خلق الناس، ولا خلق الناس في خلق البهائم ولكن خلق كلّ شيء فقدّره تقديرا. وقال آخرون: بل معنى ذلك: أعلم كل شيء خلقه، كأنهم وجهوا تأويل الكلام إلى أنه ألهم خلقه ما يحتاجون إليه، وأن قوله: ( أَحْسَنَ ) إنما هو من قول القائل: فلان يحسن كذا، إذا كان يعلمه. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا ابن وكيع، قال: ثنا أبي، عن شريك، عن خصيف، عن مجاهد ( أَحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ ) قال: أعطى كلّ شيء خلقه، قال: الإنسان إلى الإنسان، والفرس للفرس، والحمار للحمار وعلى هذا القول الخَلْق والكلّ منصوبان بوقوع أحسن عليهما. وأولى الأقوال في ذلك عندي بالصواب على قراءة من قرأه: ( الَّذِي أحْسَنَ كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلَقَهُ) بفتح اللام قول من قال: معناه أحكم وأتقن؛ لأنه لا معنى لذلك إذ قرئ كذلك إلا أحد وجهين: إما هذا الذي قلنا من معنى الإحكام والإتقان، أو معنى التحسين الذي هو في معنى الجمال والحُسن، فلما كان في خلقه ما لا يشكّ في قُبحه وسماجته، علم أنه لم يُعن به أنه أحسن كلّ ما خلق، ولكن معناه أنه أحكمه وأتقن صنعته، وأما على القراءة الأخرى التي هي بتسكين اللام، فإن أولى تأويلاته به قول من قال: معنى ذلك: أعلم وألهم كلّ شيء خلقه، هو أحسنهم، كما قال: (الَّذِي أعْطَى كُلَّ شَيْءٍ خَلْقَهُ ثُمَّ هَدَى)؛ لأن ذلك أظهر معانيه. وأما الذي وجه تأويل ذلك إلى أنه بمعنى: الذي أحسن خلق كلّ شيء، فإنه جعل الخلق نصبا بمعنى التفسير، كأنه قال: الذي أحسن كلّ شيء خلقا منه. وقد كان بعضهم يقول: هو من المقدّم الذي معناه التأخير، ويوجهه إلى أنه نظير قول الشاعر: وَظَعْنِـي إلَيْـكَ للَّيْـل حِضْيَنْـةِ أنَّنِـي لِتِلْــكَ إذَا هــابَ الهِــدَانُ فَعُـولُ (3) يعني: وظعني حضني الليل إليك؛ ونظير قول الآخر: كــأنَّ هِنْــدًا ثناياهــا وَبهْجَتَهَـا يَــوْمَ الْتَقَيْنـا عَـلى أدْحـالِ دَبَّـاب (4) أي: كأن ثنايا هند وبهجتها. وقوله: ( وَبَدَأَ خَلْقَ الإِنْسَانِ مِنْ طِينٍ ) يقول تعالى ذكره: وبدأ خلق آدم من طين