Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of His statement, the Exalted: وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ (And a sign for them is the night; We strip the day from it, and behold, they are in darkness) (37).

   The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says: and also a proof for them of Allah's power to do whatever He wills is اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ (the night, from which We strip the day). He says: We draw the day away from it. The meaning of "minhu" (from it) in this place is: away from it; it is as if it were said: We strip the day from it, so that We bring on the darkness and remove the day. Of this kind also is His statement وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا فَانْسَلَخَ مِنْهَا (And recite to them the tidings of him to whom We gave Our signs, but who detached himself from them), that is to say: he went out and abandoned them. Likewise is the detaching (insilākh) of the night from the day. And His statement فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ (and behold, they are in darkness) means: and then they have come to be in darkness through the coming of the night.

   Qatāda said concerning this, according to what Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ (And a sign for them is the night; We strip the day from it, and behold, they are in darkness): he said: He causes the night to pass into the day, and He causes the day to pass into the night. But this which Qatāda said concerning it is, in my judgment, far removed from the meaning of the stripping (salkh) of the day from the night. For causing the night to pass into the day is merely the adding of what is lacking from the hours of the one to the hours of the other, and the stripping has nothing to do with that, because the day is stripped from the entire night, and likewise the night from the entire day, whereas neither is the entire night transferred into the entire day, nor the entire day into the entire night.

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   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ (37) يقول تعالى ذكره: ودليل لهم أيضًا على قدرة الله على فعل كل ما شاء ( اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ ) يقول: ننـزع عنه النهار. ومعنى " منه " في هذا الموضع: عنه، كأنه قيل: نسلخ عنه النهار، فنأتي بالظلمة ونذهب بالنهار. ومنه قوله وَاتْلُ عَلَيْهِمْ نَبَأَ الَّذِي آتَيْنَاهُ آيَاتِنَا فَانْسَلَخَ مِنْهَا أي: خرج منها وتركها، فكذلك انسلاخ الليل من النهار. وقوله ( فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ ) يقول: فإذا هم قد صاروا في ظلمة بمجيء الليل. وقال قتادة في ذلك ماحدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله ( وَآيَةٌ لَهُمُ اللَّيْلُ نَسْلَخُ مِنْهُ النَّهَارَ فَإِذَا هُمْ مُظْلِمُونَ ) قال: يولج الليل في النهار، ويولج النهار في الليل ، وهذا الذي قاله قتادة في ذلك عندي، من معنى سلخ النهار من الليل، بعيد ، وذلك أن إيلاج الليل في النهار، إنما هو زيادة ما نقص من ساعات هذا في ساعات الآخر، وليس السلْخ من ذلك في شيء، لأن النهار يسلخ من الليل كله، وكذلك الليل من النهار كله، وليس يولج كلّ الليل في كلّ النهار، ولا كلّ النهار في كلّ الليل.