Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   His word ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) Have we taken them in mockery — the reciters differed over its reading. Most of the reciters of Medina and Syria, and some of the reciters of Kūfa, read it: ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ ) with a fatḥa upon the alif of "attakhadhnāhum," and with its cutting off [as a disjoined hamza], in the manner of a question. And most of the reciters of Kūfa and Baṣra, and some of the reciters of Mecca, read it with the joining (waṣl) of the alif of [after] "al-ashrār": "ittakhadhnāhum." We have already explained earlier that every interrogative form which carries the meaning of astonishment and reproach is sometimes posed by the Arabs as a question and sometimes expressed in the manner of a statement.

   The correct of the two readings herein is the reading of him who read it with joining (waṣl), not in the manner of a question, because of the precedence of the question before it in His word ( مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا ) what is it with us that we do not see men whom we used to [reckon]. Thus His word "ittakhadhnāhum" as a statement is the more appropriate reading, even though the interrogative form has an intelligible ground for what I described earlier, namely that it carries the meaning of astonishment.

   Since the correct reading herein is what we preferred for what we described, the meaning of the utterance is: and the tyrants said: what is it with us that we do not see Salmān, Bilāl, and Khabbāb, whom we reckoned in the world among the most wicked (ashrār) — have we taken them therein in mockery, ridiculing them, while they are today with us in the Fire?

   One of the scholars of Arabic among the people of Baṣra used to say: he who reads the sīn of "al-sukhrī" with a kasra means thereby mockery — he means: he mocks him; and he who pronounces it with a ḍamma derives it from "al-sukhra" (servitude) — "yastaskhirūnahum": they take them into service, they humiliate them. "Or have our eyes strayed from them" while they are with us.

   And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Layth, on the authority of Mujāhid, [concerning] ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) have we taken them in mockery, or have the eyes strayed from them, he says: are they in the Fire, [while] we do not know their place?

   It was related to me on the authority of al-Muḥāribī, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, [concerning] ( وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الأشْرَارِ ) and they said: what is it with us that we do not see men whom we reckoned among the most wicked, he said: they are a people who mocked Muḥammad ﷺ and his companions; then he was brought with his companions to Paradise, and they [the mockers] were driven to the Fire. So ( َقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الأشْرَار أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) they said: what is it with us that we do not see men whom we reckoned among the most wicked, have we taken them in mockery, or have the eyes strayed from them; they say: have our eyes strayed from them, so that we do not know where they are?

   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] His word ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) have we taken them in mockery, he said: we have lost track of them; ( أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) or have the eyes strayed from them and do we not see them?

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, [concerning] His word ( وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الأشْرَارِ ) and they said: what is it with us that we do not see men whom we reckoned among the most wicked, he said: they missed the people of Paradise. ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) have we taken them in mockery in the world, ( أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) or have the eyes strayed from them, while they are with us in the Fire?

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   وقوله ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) اختلفت القرّاء في قراءته, فقرأته عامة قرّاء المدينة والشام وبعض قرّاء الكوفة: ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ ) بفتح الألف من أتخذناهم, وقطعها على وجه الاستفهام, وقرأته عامة قرّاء الكوفة والبصرة, وبعض قرّاء مكة بوصل الألف من الأشرار: " اتخذناهم ". وقد بيَّنا فيما مضى قبلُ, أن كل استفهام كان بمعنى التعجب والتوبيخ, فإن العرب تستفهم فيه أحيانا, وتُخرجه على وجه الخبر أحيانا. وأولى القراءتين في ذلك بالصواب قراءة من قرأه بالوصل على غير وجه الاستفهام, لتقدّم الاستفهام قبل ذلك في قوله ( مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا ) فيصير قوله: " اتخذناهم " بالخبر أولى وإن كان للاستفهام وجه مفهوم لما وصفتُ قبل من أنه بمعنى التعجب. وإذ كان الصواب من القراءة في ذلك ما اخترنا لما وصفنا, فمعنى الكلام: وقال الطاغون: ما لنا لا نرى سَلْمان وبِلالا وخَبَّابا الذين كنَّا نعدّهم في الدنيا أشرارا, أتخذناهم فيها سُخريا نهزأ بهم فيها معنا اليوم في النار؟. وكان بعض أهل العلم بالعربية من أهل البصرة يقول: من كسر السين من السُّخْريّ, فإنه يريد به الهُزْء, يريد يسخر به, ومن ضمها فإنه يجعله من السُّخْرَة, يستسخِرونهم: يستذِلُّونهم, أزاغت عنهم أبصارنا وهم معنا. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا ابن حميد, قال: ثنا جرير, عن ليث, عن مجاهد ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) يقول: أهم في النار لا نعرف مكانهم؟. حُدثت عن المحاربيّ, عن جويبر, عن الضحاك ( وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الأشْرَارِ ) قال: هم قوم كانوا يسخَرون من محمد وأصحابه, فانطلق به وبأصحابه إلى الجنة وذهب بهم إلى النار ف ( َقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الأشْرَار أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) يقولون: أزاغت أبصارنا عنهم فلا ندري أين هم؟. 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, قوله ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) قال: أخطأناهم ( أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) ولا نراهم؟. حدثنا بشر, قال: ثنا يزيد, قال: ثنا سعيد, عن قتادة, قوله ( وَقَالُوا مَا لَنَا لا نَرَى رِجَالا كُنَّا نَعُدُّهُمْ مِنَ الأشْرَارِ ) قال: فقدوا أهل الجنة ( أَتَّخَذْنَاهُمْ سِخْرِيًّا ) في الدنيا( أَمْ زَاغَتْ عَنْهُمُ الأبْصَارُ ) وهم معنا في النار.