Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   ʿAlī related to me, saying: Abū Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْتُ فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ ("Lest a soul should say: O my regret over what I neglected toward Allah"). He said: Allah made known what the servants would say before they said it, and what they would do before they did it. He said: وَلا يُنَبِّئُكَ مِثْلُ خَبِيرٍ ("And none can inform you like the All-Aware") — أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْتُ فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ ("Lest a soul should say: O my regret over what I neglected toward Allah"), ( أَوْ تَقُولَ لَوْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ هَدَانِي ) ("or should say: If only Allah had guided me") ... up to His word: ( فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ) ("that I might be among the doers of good"). He says: among the rightly guided. So Allah, the Exalted, made known that, were they to be brought back, they would not be able to attain right guidance. And He said: وَلَوْ رُدُّوا لَعَادُوا لِمَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ ("And if they were brought back, they would return to that which they were forbidden, and indeed they are liars"). And He said: وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ ("And We turn their hearts and their eyes away"), just as they did not believe in it the first time. He said: and if they were brought back to the world, a separation would be made between them and right guidance, just as We made a separation between them and it the first time, when they were in the world.

   As for the accusative form (naṣb) in His word ( فَأَكُونَ ) ("that I might be"), there are two explanations. The first: that the accusative is justified by its being the answer to "law" ("if"). The second: that it refers back to the position of "al-karra" (the return), the meaning of "al-karra" being directed toward: "had it been granted to me that I should return," as the poet said:

   So there remains to you of her nothing but a memory and regret,

   and that you should ask after her riders: whither have they gone? (1)

   So he put "tasʾal" ("that you should ask") in the accusative by linking it to the position of "al-dhikrā" (the memory), because the meaning of the statement is: "So there remains to you (2) [nothing but that you should remember and ask]," by analogy with "bi-yursila" (with "that He should send"), linked to the position of "al-waḥy" (the revelation) in His word: إِلا وَحْيًا ("except by revelation").

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   The footnotes:

   (1) The verse is among the citations of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 286 of the university manuscript). The point of citation lies in his words "wa-tasʾal" ("and that you should ask"), for in it the accusative is permitted by implying "an," because of the linking of the verb to an explicit noun, like the saying of Maysūn bint Baḥdal al-Kalbiyya, the wife of Muʿāwiya: "The wearing of a woolen cloak — and that my eye should be gladdened," that is: "and that my eye should be gladdened." It is also permitted therein to use the nominative, since there is no "an" before it. Al-Farrāʾ said: His word "law anna lī karratan fa-akūna mina l-muḥsinīn" ("had I a return, that I might be among the doers of good"): the accusative in his word "fa-akūna" is the answer to "law." And if you wish, referring back to the meaning of "an," which you imply in the multitude [of cases], as they say: "law anna akurra fa-akūna" ("were it that I should return, that I might be"). And a comparable case, in which the accusative stands on the grounds of an implied "an," is His word "wa-mā kāna li-basharin an yukallimahu llāhu illā waḥyan aw min warāʾi ḥijābin aw yursila" ("And it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil, or that He should send [a messenger]"). The meaning — and Allah knows best — is: it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation. And if one were to read "fa-yūḥiya" in the nominative, since there is no "an" before or with it, that would be correct. And some reciters have recited it thus. And one of the reciters recited to me: "fa-mā laka minhā ghayru dhikrā wa-ḥasratin" ("So there remains to you of her nothing but memory and regret") — the verse. And al-Kisāʾī said: I heard from the Arabs: "It is nothing but a single blow of the lion, and thus he shatters his back," that is: with both the nominative and the accusative of the verb. End of quotation.

   Et cetera.

   (2) In the text something has been dropped by the copyist; perhaps the original read: "So there remains to you nothing but that you should remember and ask," and the opposite [meaning: comparable case] is ( وما كان لبشر أن يكلمه الله إلا وحيا أو من وراء حجاب أو يرسل ) ("And it is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil, or that He should send [a messenger]"), where He linked with "yursila" ...

   Show original Arabic

   حدثني عليّ, قال: ثنا أبو صالح, قال: ثني معاوية, عن عليّ, عن ابن عباس, قوله: أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْتُ فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ قال: أخبر الله ما العباد قائلوه قبل أن يقولوه, وعملهم قبل أن يعملوه, قال: وَلا يُنَبِّئُكَ مِثْلُ خَبِيرٍ أَنْ تَقُولَ نَفْسٌ يَا حَسْرَتَا عَلَى مَا فَرَّطْتُ فِي جَنْبِ اللَّهِ ( أَوْ تَقُولَ لَوْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ هَدَانِي ) ... إلى قوله: ( فَأَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُحْسِنِينَ ) يقول: من المهتدين, فأخبر الله سبحانه أنهم لو ردوا لم يقدروا على الهدى, وقال وَلَوْ رُدُّوا لَعَادُوا لِمَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ وَإِنَّهُمْ لَكَاذِبُونَ وقال: وَنُقَلِّبُ أَفْئِدَتَهُمْ وَأَبْصَارَهُمْ كما لم يؤمنوا به أول مرة, قال: ولو ردوا إلى الدنيا لحيل بينهم وبين الهدى, كما حلنا بينهم وبينه أول مرة وهم في الدنيا. وفي نصب قوله ( فَأَكُونَ ) وجهان، أحدهما: أن يكون نصبه على أنه جواب لو والثاني: على الرد على موضع الكرة, وتوجيه الكرة في المعنى إلى: لو أن لي أن أكر, كما قال الشاعر: فَمَـا لَـكَ مِنْهَـا غـيرُ ذِكْرَى وَحَسْرَةٍ وَتَسْـألَ عَـنْ رُكْبانهـا أيْـنَ يَمَّمُـوا? (1) فنصب تسأل عطفا بها على موضع الذكرى, لأن معنى الكلام: فما لك (2) بيرسل على موضع الوحي في قوله: إِلا وَحْيًا . ------------------------- الهوامش : (1) البيت من شواهد الفراء في معاني القرآن ( الورقة 286 من مخطوطة الجامعة ) والشاهد في قوله" وتسأل" إذ يجوز فيه النصب بتقدير" أن" لعطف الفعل على اسم صريح ، مثل قول ميسون بنت بحدل الكلبية زوج معاوية :" لبس عباءة وتقر عيني" أي وأن تقر عيني . ويجوز فيه أن يرفع ، لأنه لم تظهر قبله" أن" . قال الفراء : قوله" لو أن لي كرة فأكون من المحسنين" : النصب في قوله" فأكون" : جواب للو . وإن شئت مردودا على تأويل" أن" تضمرها في الكثرة ، كما يقولون : لو أن أكر فأكون. ومثله مما نصب على إضمار أن قوله" وما كان لبشر أن يكلمه الله إلا وحيا أو من وراء حجاب ، أو يرسل" المعنى - والله أعلم - ما كان لبشر أن يكلمه الله إلا وحيا . ولو رفع" فيوحي" إذ لم يظهر أن قبله ولا معه ، كان صوابا . وقد قرأ به بعض القراء . وأنشدني بعض القراء :" فما لك منها غير ذكرى وحسرة" البيت . وقال الكسائي : سمعت من العرب :" ما هي إلا ضربة من الأسد ، فيحطم ظهره ، أي برفع الفعل ونصبه" . ا هـ . الخ . (2) في الكلام سقط من الناسخ ، ولعل الأصل : فما لك غير أن تذكر وتسأل : ونظيره ( وما كان لبشر أن يكلمه الله إلا وحيا أو من وراء حجاب أو يرسل ) فعطف بيرسل ...