Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The statement concerning the interpretation of His words, exalted is He: لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ (75) ("They are not able to help them, while they are for them a host that is brought forward.") (75)

   He, exalted is His mention, says: these gods are not able to help them against Allah, should He intend evil for them, and they do not ward off any harm from them.

   And His statement ( وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ ) ("while they are for them a host that is brought forward"): He says: and these polytheists (mushrikīn) are for their gods a host that is brought forward.

   The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning the interpretation of His statement ( مُحْضَرُونَ ) ("brought forward"), and where their being brought forward to them takes place. Some of them said: by it is meant: and they are for them a host that is brought forward at the reckoning.

   * Mention of who said that:

   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, all on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His statement ( وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ ), he said: at the reckoning.

   And others said: no, rather its meaning is: and they are for them a host that is brought forward in this world and grows angry on their behalf.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda ( لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَهُمْ ) — the gods — ( وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ ): and the polytheists grow angry on behalf of the gods in this world, while those bring them no good and ward off no evil from them; they are merely idols.

   And this which Qatāda has said is, of the two views, the one that appears most correct to us in the interpretation thereof, for at the reckoning the idols and all that they worshipped will dissociate themselves from them; so how would they then be a host for those at that moment? But in this world they are for those a host that grows angry on their behalf and fights in their place.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَهُمْ وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ (75) يقول تعالى ذكره: لا تستطيع هذه الآلهة نصرهم من الله إن أراد بهم سوءا، ولا تدفع عنهم ضرا. وقوله ( وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ ) يقول: وهؤلاء المشركون لآلهتهم جند محضَرون. واختلف أهل التأويل في تأويل قوله ( مُحْضَرُونَ ) وأين حضورهم إياهم، فقال بعضهم: عني بذلك: وهم لهم جند محضرون عند الحساب. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني محمد بن عمرو، قال: ثنا أبو عاصم، قال: ثنا عيسى؛ وحدثني الحارث، قال: ثنا الحسن، قال: ثنا ورقاء، جميعًا عن ابن أبي نجيح، عن مجاهد، في قوله ( وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ ) قال: عند الحساب . وقال آخرون: بل معنى ذلك: وهم لهم جند محضَرون في الدنيا يغضبون لهم. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة ( لا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَهُمْ ) الآلهة ( وَهُمْ لَهُمْ جُنْدٌ مُحْضَرُونَ ) والمشركون يغضبون للآلهة في الدنيا، وهي لا تسوق إليهم خيرا، ولا تدفع عنهم سوءا، إنما هي أصنام . وهذا الذي قاله قتادة أولى القولين عندنا بالصواب في تأويل ذلك، لأن المشركين عند الحساب تتبرأ منهم الأصنام، وما كانوا يعبدونه، فكيف يكونون لها جندا حينئذ، ولكنهم في الدنيا لهم جند يغضبون لهم، ويقاتلون دونهم.