Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لا تَأْتِينَا السَّاعَةُ قُلْ بَلَى وَرَبِّي لَتَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَلا فِي الأَرْضِ وَلا أَصْغَرُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ وَلا أَكْبَرُ إِلا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ (34:3) (And those who disbelieve say: "The Hour will not come upon us." Say: "Yes indeed, by my Lord, it shall surely come upon you — the Knower of the unseen." Not a particle's weight of a speck of dust escapes Him in the heavens, nor on the earth; and there is nothing smaller than that, nor greater, but it is in a clear Book.)

   The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and those who deny the power of Allah to restore His creation, after its perishing, to the form in which it was before its perishing — namely those among your people — ask you, O Muḥammad, to hasten the arrival of the Hour; out of mockery of your promise to them and out of denial of your tidings. Say to them: yes indeed, it shall come upon you, by my Lord — as an oath thereby — the Hour shall surely come upon you. Then He, mighty is His majesty, after the mention of the Hour, returns to Himself and to His own glorification, and says: (the Knower of the unseen).

   The reciters differ over the reading of that. The general reciters of Medina read it (عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ) according to the pattern of an active participle (fāʿil), with the nominative (rafʿ) as a resumption (istiʾnāf), because between His saying (وَرَبِّي / "and by my Lord") and His saying (عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ / "Knower of the unseen") there has entered a word that forms a separation between the one and the other. Some reciters of Kufa and Basra likewise read it (عَالِمِ) according to the pattern of an active participle, except that they put ʿālim in the genitive (khafḍ), by referring it back to His saying (وَرَبِّي / "and by my Lord"), since it belongs to His attributes. The remaining general reciters of Kufa read it (عَلام الْغَيْبِ) according to the pattern of an intensive form (faʿʿāl), and in the genitive, by referring its inflection back to the inflection of His saying (وربي / "and by my Lord"), since it belongs to His description.

   The correct ruling on this, in our view, is that all three of these readings are well-known readings among the reciters of the regions, with closely related meanings to one another. Whichever of them the reciter reads, he has grasped what is correct. Nevertheless, the reading that most pleases me herein is that I read (عَلام الْغَيْبِ) according to the reading that I have mentioned on the authority of the general reciters of Kufa. As for the preference for ʿallām over ʿālim: that is because it is more eloquent in praise. And as for the genitive therein: that is because it belongs to the description of the Lord, and that stands in a position of genitive (jarr). By His saying (عَلام الْغَيْبِ / "Knower of the unseen") He means: the thorough Knower of what remains hidden from the sight of the creatures, so that none sees it — whether what He has not yet brought into existence but which He will bring into existence, or what He has already brought into existence but of which He has informed none other than Himself. He, exalted is His praise, describes Himself in this place with His knowledge of the unseen, as a notification from Him to His creatures that none but He knows the time of the coming of the Hour, even though it is coming. So He said to His Prophet Muḥammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace: say to those who deny their Lord: yes indeed, by your Lord, the Hour shall surely come upon you, but none knows the time of its coming except the thorough Knower of the unseen matters, He from whom not a particle's weight of a speck of dust escapes.

   He, exalted is His praise, means by His saying (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ / "it escapes Him not"): it is not hidden from Him, but rather it is visible to Him.

   And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) spoke.

   * Mention of who said that:

   ʿAlī related to us, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ / "it escapes Him not"), he says: it is not hidden from Him.

   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, concerning the saying of Allah: (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ / "it escapes Him not"), he said: it is not hidden.

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ / "not a particle's weight of a speck of dust escapes Him"), that is to say: it is not hidden from Him.

   We have already expounded that previously with its proof-texts in a manner that absolves us from repeating it in this place.

   And His saying (مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ / "a particle's weight of a speck of dust") means: the weight of a speck of dust in the heavens nor on the earth. The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: nothing escapes Him, from the weight of a speck of dust to what is above that and what is below it, wherever it may be in the heavens or on the earth. (وَلا أَصْغَرُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ / "and nothing smaller than that") he says: and nothing escapes Him that is smaller than the weight of a speck of dust, (وَلا أَكْبَرُ / "nor greater") than that, (إِلا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ / "but it is in a clear Book") he says: it is recorded in a Book that makes clear to whoever looks into it that Allah, the Exalted whose mention is exalted, has recorded it, has enumerated it, and has known it, so that it has not escaped His knowledge.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا لا تَأْتِينَا السَّاعَةُ قُلْ بَلَى وَرَبِّي لَتَأْتِيَنَّكُمْ عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَلا فِي الأَرْضِ وَلا أَصْغَرُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ وَلا أَكْبَرُ إِلا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ (3) يقول تعالى ذكره: ويستعجلك يا محمد الذين جحدوا قدرة الله على إعادة خلقه بعد فنائهم بهيئتهم التي كانوا بها من قبل فنائهم من قومك بقيام الساعة؛ استهزاء بوعدك إياهم وتكذيبا لخبرك، قل لهم: بلى تأتيكم وربي، قسمًا به لتأتينكم الساعة، ثم عاد جل جلاله بعد ذكره الساعة على نفسه، وتمجيدها فقال (عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ). واختلفت القراء في قراءة ذلك؛ فقرأته عامة قراء المدينة (عَالِمُ الْغَيْبِ) على مثال فاعل، بالرفع على الاستئناف؛ إذ دخل بين قوله (وَرَبِّي) وبين قوله (عَالِمِ الْغَيْبِ) كلام حائل بينه وبينه، وقرأ ذلك بعض قراء الكوفة والبصرة، (عَالِمِ) على مثال فاعل غير أنهم خفضوا عالم ردًّا منهم له على قوله (وَرَبِّي) إذ كان من صفته. وقرأ ذلك بقية عامة قراء الكوفة (عَلام الْغَيْبِ) على مثال فعَّال، وبالخفض ردًّا لإعرابه على إعراب قوله (وربي) إذ كان من نعته. والصواب من القول في ذلك عندنا أن كلَّ هذه القراءات الثلاث قراءات مشهورات في قراء الأمصار متقاربات المعاني، فبأيتهن قرأ القارىء فمصيب، غير أن أعجب القراءات في ذلك إليَّ أن أقرأ بها(عَلام الْغَيْبِ) على القراءة التي ذكرتها عن عامة قراء أهل الكوفة، فأما اختيار علام على عالم فلأنها أبلغ في المدح. وأما الخفض فيها فلأنها من نعت الرب، وهو في موضع جر، وعنى بقوله (عَلام الْغَيْبِ) علام ما يغيب عن أبصار الخلق فلا يراه أحد، إما ما لم يكونه مما سيكونه أو ما قد كونه فلم يطلع عليه أحدًا غيره، وإنما وصف جل ثناؤه في هذا الموضع نفسه بعلمه الغيب إعلامًا منه خلقه أن الساعة لا يعلم وقت مجيئها أحد سواه، وإن كانت جائية فقال لنبيه محمد صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم: قل للذين كفروا بربهم: بلى وربِّكم لتأتينكم الساعة، ولكنه لا يعلم وقت مجيئها أحد سوى علام الغيوب، الذي لا يعزب عنه مثقال ذرة. يعني جل ثناؤه بقوله (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ) لا يغيب عنه ولكنه ظاهر له. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا علي قال ثنا أَبو صالح قال ثني معاوية عن علي عن ابن عباس في قوله (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ) يقول: لا يغيب عنه. حدثني محمد بن عمرو، قال: ثنا أَبو عاصم، قال: ثنا عيسى، وحدثني الحارث، قال: ثنا الحسن، قال: ثنا ورقاء جميعا، عن ابن أَبي نجيح، عن مجاهد في قول الله: (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ) قال: لا يغيب. حدثنا بشر قال ثنا يزيد قال ثنا سعيد عن قتادة (لا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ) أي: لا يغيب عنه. وقد بيَّنَّا ذلك بشواهده فيما مضى بما أغنى عن إعادته في هذا الموضع. وقوله (مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ) يعني: زنة ذرة في السماوات ولا في الأرض يقول تعالى ذكره: لا يغيب عنه شيء من زنة ذرة فما فوقها فما دونها، أين كان في السماوات ولا في الأرض (وَلا أَصْغَرُ مِنْ ذَلِكَ) يقول: ولا يعزب عنه أصغر من مثقال ذرة (وَلا أَكْبَرُ) منه (إِلا فِي كِتَابٍ مُبِينٍ) يقول: هو مثبت في كتاب يبين للناظر فيه أن الله تعالى ذكره قد أثبته وأحصاه وعلمه فلم يعزب عن علمه.