Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   And His statement وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ (And you shall certainly know its tidings after a time) means: and you shall certainly, O polytheists (mushrikīn) among the Quraysh who ascribe partners to Allah, know its tidings — that is to say: the tidings of this Qurʾān — and that is its report, namely the reality of what it contains of promise and threat, after a time.

   And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ (And you shall certainly know its tidings): he said: the truthfulness of these tidings, the tidings of that which they denied. It has been said: نَبَأَهُ (its tidings) is the reality of the affair of Muḥammad ﷺ, namely that he is a prophet.

   Then they differed concerning the duration of the "time" (ḥīn) which Allah mentions in this place: what it is and what its end is. Some of them said: its end is death.

   * 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 statement وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ (And you shall certainly know its tidings after a time): that is to say: after death. And al-Ḥasan said: O child of Ādam, at death the certain tidings come to you.

   And some of them said: its end was up until the day of Badr.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Muḥammad related to us, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, concerning His statement وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ (And you shall certainly know its tidings after a time): he said: on the day of Badr.

   And some of them said: the Day of Resurrection. And some of them said: its end is the Resurrection.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ (And you shall certainly know its tidings after a time): he said: on the Day of Resurrection they shall know the tidings of that which they denied, after a time of the worldly life, and that is the Day of Resurrection. And he recited: لِكُلِّ نَبَإٍ مُسْتَقَرٌّ وَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ (For every tiding there is a fixed time, and you shall know); he said: and this too pertains to the Hereafter, in which the truth is established and falsehood is brought to nothing.

   And the most fitting of the statements about this is that one says: Allah let the polytheists who denied this Qurʾān know that they shall know its tidings after a time, without His delimiting that time by a boundary. And of those who remained alive, some came to know its tidings by living long enough that its reality was disclosed and its correctness became clear in this world; and some of them came to know its reality through their destruction at Badr and before it. And among the Arabs "al-ḥīn" (the time) has no boundary that is neither exceeded nor fallen short of. Since this is so, there is no statement about this more correct than that one leaves it indefinite, as Allah left it indefinite, without restricting it to one moment rather than another.

   And in accordance with what we have said about this, the people of interpretation have spoken.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Yaʿqūb ibn Ibrāhīm related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, saying: Ayyūb related to us, saying: ʿIkrima said: I was asked about a man who swore that he would not do something until a "time" (ḥīn). Then I said: indeed, of the "time" there is a time that is not reached, and of the "time" there is a time that is reached. The time that is not reached is His statement وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ (And you shall certainly know its tidings after a time), and the time that is reached is His statement تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا (it gives its fruit every time, by the permission of its Lord), and that is from the moment the date palm is harvested until the moment it buds again, and that is six months.

   End of the tafsīr of Sūrah Ṣād.

   Show original Arabic

   وقوله ( وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ ) يقول: ولتعلمن أيها المشركون بالله من قريش نبأه, يعني: نبأ هذا القرآن, وهو خبره, يعني حقيقة ما فيه من الوعد والوعيد بعد حين. وبمثل الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني يونس, قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب, قال: قال ابن زيد, في قوله ( وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ ) قال: صدق هذا الحديث نبأ ما كذّبوا به., قيل: ( نَبَأَهُ ) حقيقة أمر محمد صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم أنه نبيّ. ثم اختلفوا في مدة الحين الذي ذكره الله في هذا الموضع: ما هي, وما نهايتها؟ فقال بعضهم: نهايتها الموت. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر, قال: ثنا يزيد, قال: ثنا سعيد, عن قتادة, قوله ( وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ ) : أي بعد الموت; وقال الحسن: يابن آدم عند الموت يأتيك الخبر اليقين. وقال بعضهم: كانت نهايتها إلى يوم بدر. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا محمد, قال: ثنا أحمد, قال: ثنا أسباط, عن السديّ, في قوله ( وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ ) قال: يوم بدر. وقال بعضهم: يوم القيامة. وقال بعضهم: نهايتها القيامة. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني يونس, قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب, قال: قال ابن زيد, في قوله ( وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ ) قال: يوم القيامة يعلمون نبأ ما كذبوا به بعد حين من الدنيا وهو يوم القيامة. وقرأ: لِكُلِّ نَبَإٍ مُسْتَقَرٌّ وَسَوْفَ تَعْلَمُونَ قال: وهذا أيضا الآخرة يستقرّ فيها الحقّ, ويبطل الباطل. وأولى الأقوال في ذلك بالصواب أن يقال: إن الله أعلم المشركين المكذبين بهذا القرآن أنهم يعلمون نبأه بعد حين من غير حد منه لذلك الحين بحد, وقد علم نبأه من أحيائهم الذين عاشوا إلى ظهور حقيقته, ووضوح صحته في الدنيا, ومنهم من علم حقيقة ذلك بهلاكه ببدر, وقبل ذلك, ولا حد عند العرب للحين, لا يُجاوز ولا يقصر عنه. فإذ كان ذلك كذلك فلا قول فيه أصح من أن يطلق كما أطلقه الله من غير حصر ذلك على وقت دون وقت. وبنحو الذين قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني يعقوب ابن إبراهيم, قال: ثنا ابن عُلَية, قال: ثنا أيوب, قال: قال عكرمة: سُئِلْت عن رجل حلف أن لا يصنع كذا وكذا إلى حين, فقلت: إن من الحين حينا لا يُدرك, ومن الحين حين يدرك, فالحين الذي لا يُدرك قوله ( وَلَتَعْلَمُنَّ نَبَأَهُ بَعْدَ حِينٍ ) والحين الذي يدرك قوله تُؤْتِي أُكُلَهَا كُلَّ حِينٍ بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهَا وذلك من حين تُصْرَم النخلة إلى حين تُطْلِع, وذلك ستة أشهر. آخر تفسير سورة ص