Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Discussion of the interpretation of His word: مَا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنْتُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا (147) (What would Allah do with your punishment, if you are grateful and believe? And Allah is appreciative, all-knowing. (4:147))

   Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — means by His word "What would Allah do with your punishment, if you are grateful and believe?": what would Allah, O hypocrites (munāfiqūn), undertake with your punishment, if you were to turn in repentance to Allah and return to the truth that Allah has made obligatory upon you, so that you thank Him for the favors He has bestowed upon you in yourselves, your families, and your children, by returning penitently to His oneness (tawḥīd), clinging fast to Him, performing your deeds purely for His sake and abandoning ostentation before people therein, and if you were to believe in His Messenger Muhammad (the Prophet ﷺ), so that you hold him to be truthful and acknowledge what he has brought you from Him and act in accordance with it?

   He says: Allah has no need to place you in the lowest level of the Fire (al-nār), if you turn to obedience to Him and return to acting upon that which He has commanded you and abandoning that which He has forbidden you. For He gains no benefit for Himself through your punishment, nor does He thereby ward off any harm from Himself; rather, His punishment of whomever He punishes among His creatures is a requital from Him to him for his insolence toward Him, for his transgression of His command and prohibition, and for his ingratitude toward the favors He has bestowed upon him. So if you thank Him for His favors and obey Him in His command and prohibition, then He has no need to punish you; on the contrary, He is appreciative to you for the obedience and thanks that proceed from you, by rewarding you for that with what surpasses your desires and what your expectations do not reach. "And Allah is appreciative" toward you and toward His servants for their obedience to Him, in that He grants them the reward for it abundantly and makes great the recompense for it for them. "All-knowing" concerning what you do, O hypocrites, and others besides you, of good and evil, of virtuous and corrupt; all of this He records against you, encompassing it in its entirety, until He gives you your requital on the Day of Resurrection — the doer of good for his good deed, and the doer of evil for his evil. And already:

   10748- Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "What would Allah do with your punishment, if you are grateful and believe? And Allah is appreciative, all-knowing." He said: Allah — exalted be His praise — punishes neither one who is grateful nor one who believes.

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   القول في تأويل قوله : مَا يَفْعَلُ اللَّهُ بِعَذَابِكُمْ إِنْ شَكَرْتُمْ وَآمَنْتُمْ وَكَانَ اللَّهُ شَاكِرًا عَلِيمًا (147) قال أبو جعفر: يعني جل ثناؤه بقوله: " ما يفعل الله بعذابكم إن شكرتم وآمنتم "، ما يصنع الله، أيها المنافقون، بعذابكم، إن أنتم تُبتم إلى الله ورجعتم إلى الحق الواجب لله عليكم، فشكرتموه على ما أنعم عليكم من نعمه في أنفسكم وأهاليكم وأولادِكم، بالإنابة إلى توحيده، والاعتصام به، وإخلاصكم أعمالَكم لوجهه، وترك رياء الناس بها، وآمنتم برسوله محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم فصدَّقتموه، وأقررتم بما جاءكم به من عنده فعملتم به؟ يقول: لا حاجة بالله أن يجعلكم في الدَّرك الأسفل من النار، إن أنتم أنبتم إلى طاعته، وراجعتم العمل بما أمركم به، وترك ما نهاكم عنه. لأنه لا يجتلب بعذابكم إلى نفسه نفعًا، ولا يدفع عنها ضُرًّا، وإنما عقوبته من عاقب من خلقه، جزاءٌ منه له على جرَاءته عليه، وعلى خلافه أمره ونهيه، وكفرانِه شكر نعمه عليه. فإن &; 9-343 &; أنتم شكرتم له على نعمه، وأطعتموه في أمره ونهيه، فلا حاجة به إلى تعذيبكم، بل يشكر لكم ما يكون منكم من طاعةٍ له وشكر، بمجازاتكم على ذلك بما تقصر عنه أمانيكم، ولم تبلغه آمالكم (53) =" وكان الله شاكرا " لكم ولعباده على طاعتهم إياه، بإجزاله لهم الثوابَ عليها، وإعظامه لهم العِوَض منها=" عليمًا " بما تعملون، أيها المنافقون، وغيركم من خير وشر، وصالِح وطالح، محصٍ ذلك كله عليكم، محيط بجميعه، حتى يجازيكم جزاءَكم يوم القيامة، المحسنَ بإحسانه، والمسيءَ بإساءته. وقد:- 10748- حدثنا بشر بن معاذ قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد، عن قتادة: " ما يفعل الله بعذابكم إن شكرتم وآمنتم وكان الله شاكرًا عليمًا "، قال: إن الله جل ثناؤه لا يعذِّب شاكرًا ولا مؤمنًا. * * * --------------- الهوامش : (52) انظر تفسير"الأجر" فيما سلف ص: 202 ، تعليق: 2 ، والمراجع هناك. (53) في المطبوعة: "فلم تبلغه" بالفاء ، والصواب ما في المخطوطة.