Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of His word: وَلَوْلا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكَ وَرَحْمَتُهُ لَهَمَّتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ أَنْ يُضِلُّوكَ وَمَا يُضِلُّونَ إِلا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَضُرُّونَكَ مِنْ شَيْءٍ وَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَكَ مَا لَمْ تَكُنْ تَعْلَمُ وَكَانَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكَ عَظِيمًا (4:113)

   (And were it not for the grace of Allah upon you and His mercy, a group of them would have sought to mislead you; but they mislead only themselves, and they cause you no harm whatsoever. And Allah has sent down upon you the Book and wisdom, and has taught you what you did not know; and the grace of Allah upon you is immense.)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: By His word, the Exalted: "And were it not for the grace of Allah upon you and His mercy" — and were it not that Allah favored you, O Muḥammad (the Prophet ﷺ), and protected you through His inspiring you with what is right and His clarifying to you the affair of this traitor, so that you thereby refrained from pleading on his behalf and from depriving the rightful ones of the right they held against him — "a group of them would have sought to mislead you." He says: then a faction of them would have sought — that is: of these who deceive themselves — "to mislead you," that is: to make you stray from the path of truth. And that on account of their concealing the affair of the traitor from him ﷺ, and their testifying on behalf of the traitor before him that he was free of what had been charged against him, and their request to him to excuse him and to plead his excuse among his Companions. Then Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, said: but these who sought to make you stray from the obligatory judgment in the affair of this traitor concerning his neighbor's coat of mail mislead no one "except themselves."

   If someone asks: in what manner did they mislead themselves?

   Then it is answered: the manner in which they misled themselves is that they set themselves upon a path other than that which Allah has permitted them. For Allah, the Exalted, had already commanded them beforehand in what He had sent down in His Book upon the tongue of His Messenger to His creatures: the prohibition against aiding one another in sin and transgression, and the command to aid one another in truth. It was therefore obligatory before Allah that whoever exerted himself in the affair of the traitors — concerning whose affair Allah says in His word: وَلا تَكُنْ لِلْخَائِنِينَ خَصِيمًا (And do not be a pleader for the traitors) — should aid the one whom they wronged, and not the one who disputed with them before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in claiming his right against them. Their exertion to aid them, instead of aiding the one whom they wronged, was thus a setting of themselves upon a path other than the path of Allah. And that is the misleading of themselves which Allah described when He said: "but they mislead only themselves."

   "And they cause you no harm whatsoever" — and these who sought to make you slip from the truth in the affair of this traitor from his people and tribe cause you no harm — "whatsoever" — for Allah is your confirmer and your strengthener in your affairs, and He makes clear to you the affair of those who exerted themselves to make you stray from the truth in his affair and in their affair, and He thereby exposes both him and them.

   And His word: "And Allah has sent down upon you the Book and wisdom" — He says: and among Allah's grace upon you, O Muḥammad, in addition to all the other graces with which He has favored you, is that He sent down upon you "the Book," and that is the Qurʾān in which is the exposition of all things, and guidance and admonition — "and wisdom," that is: and He sent down upon you, in addition to the Book, wisdom (ḥikma), and that is what is mentioned only concisely in the Book, of what it permits and forbids, and its command and prohibition, and its statutes, and its promise and its threat — "and He has taught you what you did not know" of the reports of the ancients and the later ones, and what has been and what will be. All of this belongs to Allah's grace upon you, O Muḥammad, since He created you. So be grateful to Him for the beneficence He has shown you, by holding fast to obedience to Him, and by hastening toward His good pleasure and His love, and by persevering in acting according to what has been sent down to you in His Book and His wisdom, and by opposing whoever seeks to make you stray from His path and the way of His religion. For it is Allah who shows you mercy through His grace, and who guards you against the malice of whoever wishes you ill and seeks to turn you away from His way, just as He has guarded you against the group that sought to make you stray from His way in the affair of this traitor. And none but He can save you from evil if He wills that for you, were you to oppose Him in any part of His command and prohibition and to follow the desire of whoever seeks to turn you away from His way.

   And this verse is a warning from Allah to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ at the place of his error, and a reminder from Him to him concerning what is obligatory upon him by virtue of His right.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : وَلَوْلا فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكَ وَرَحْمَتُهُ لَهَمَّتْ طَائِفَةٌ مِنْهُمْ أَنْ يُضِلُّوكَ وَمَا يُضِلُّونَ إِلا أَنْفُسَهُمْ وَمَا يَضُرُّونَكَ مِنْ شَيْءٍ وَأَنْزَلَ اللَّهُ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَعَلَّمَكَ مَا لَمْ تَكُنْ تَعْلَمُ وَكَانَ فَضْلُ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكَ عَظِيمًا (113) قال أبو جعفر: يعني بقوله جل ثناؤه: " ولولا فضل الله عليك ورحمته "، ولولا أن الله تفضل عليك، يا محمد، (75) فعصمك بتوفيقه وتبيانه لك أمر هذا الخائن، فكففت لذلك عن الجدال عنه، ومدافعة أهل الحق عن حقهم قِبَله=" لهمت طائفة منهم "، يقول: لهمت فرقة منهم، (76) يعني: من هؤلاء الذين يختانون أنفسهم=" أن يضلوك "، يقول: يزلُّوك عن طريق الحق، (77) وذلك لتلبيسهم أمر الخائن عليه صلى الله عليه وسلم، وشهادتهم للخائن عنده بأنه بريء مما ادعى عليه، ومسألتهم إياه أن يعذره ويقوم بمعذرته في أصحابه، فقال الله تبارك وتعالى: وما يضل هؤلاء الذين هموا بأن يضلوك عن الواجب من الحكم في أمر هذا الخائن درعَ جاره،" إلا أنفسهم ". * * * فإن قال قائل: ما كان وجه إضلالهم أنفسَهم؟ قيل: وجهُ إضلالهم أنفسهم: أخذُهم بها في غير ما أباح الله لهم الأخذَ بها فيه من سبله. وذلك أن الله جل ثناؤه قد كان تقدّم إليهم فيما تقدّم في كتابه على لسان رسوله إلى خلقه، بالنهي عن أن يتعاونوا على الإثم والعدوان، والأمر بالتعاون على الحق. فكان من الواجب لله فيمن سعى في أمر الخائنين الذين وصف الله أمرهم بقوله: وَلا تَكُنْ لِلْخَائِنِينَ خَصِيمًا ، معاونة من ظلموه، دون من خاصمهم إلى رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم في طلب حقه منهم. فكان سعيهم في معونتهم، دون معونة من ظلموه، أخذًا منهم في غير سبيل الله. وذلك هو إضلالهم أنفسهم الذي وصفه الله فقال: " وما يضلون إلا أنفسهم ". * * * =" وما يضرونك من شيء "، وما يضرك هؤلاء الذين هموا لك أن يزلُّوك عن الحق في أمر هذا الخائن من قومه وعشيرته=" من شيء "، لأن الله مثبِّتك ومسدِّدك في أمورك، ومبيِّن لك أمر من سعوا في إضلالك عن الحق في أمره وأمرهم، ففاضِحُه وإياهم. = وقوله: " وأنـزل الله عليك الكتاب والحكمة "، يقول: ومن فضل الله عليك، يا محمد، مع سائر ما تفضَّل به عليك من نعمه، أنه أنـزل عليك " الكتاب "، وهو القرآن الذي فيه بيان كل شيء وهدًى وموعظة=" والحكمة "، يعني: وأنـزل عليك مع الكتاب الحكمة، وهي ما كان في الكتاب مجملا ذكره، من حلاله وحرامه، وأمره ونهيه، وأحكامه، ووعده ووعيده (78) =" وعلمك ما لم تكن تعلم " من خبر الأولين والآخرين، وما كان وما هو كائن، فكل ذلك من فضل الله عليك، يا محمد، مُذْ خلقك، (79) فاشكره على ما أولاك من إحسانه إليك، بالتمسك بطاعته، &; 9-201 &; والمسارعة إلى رضاه ومحبته، ولزوم العمل بما أنـزل إليك في كتابه وحكمته، ومخالفة من حاول إضلالك عن طريقه ومنهاج دينه، فإن الله هو الذي يتولاك بفضله، ويكفيك غائلة من أرادك بسوء وحاول صدّك عن سبيله، كما كفاك أمر الطائفة التي همت أن تضلك عن سبيله في أمر هذا الخائن. ولا أحد دونه ينقذك من سوء إن أراد بك، إن أنت خالفته في شيء من أمره ونهيه، واتبعت هوى من حاول صدَّك عن سبيله. * * * وهذه الآية تنبيهٌ من الله نبيَّه محمدًا صلى الله عليه وسلم على موضع خطئه، (80) وتذكيرٌ منه له الواجبَ عليه من حقه. * * * --------------- (75) انظر تفسير"الفضل" فيما سلف من فهارس اللغة. (76) انظر تفسير"طائفة" فيما سلف 141 ، تعليق: 1 ، والمراجع هناك. (77) انظر تفسير"الإضلال" فيما سلف 8 : 507 ، تعليق: 1 ، والمراجع هناك. (78) انظر تفسير"الحكمة" فيما سلف 3 : 87 ، 88 ، 211 / 5 : 15 ، وغيرها من المواضع في فهارس اللغة. (79) في المطبوعة والمخطوطة: "وما كان وما هو كائن قبل ذلك من فضل الله عليك" ، وهو غير مستقيم ، والصواب ما أثبت ، "فكل" مكان"قبل". (80) في المطبوعة: "موضع حظه" ، وهي في المخطوطة غير منقوطة ، وهذا صواب قراءتها موافقا لسياق القصة.