Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Concerning His words: غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ ("Forgiver of sin") there are two views. The first is that it has the meaning of "He forgives the sins of the servants." When this meaning is intended, the genitive ending of "ghāfir" and "qābil" can be explained in two ways. The first of these is that a repetition of "min" is assumed, so that the meaning of the verse then reads: "the sending down of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, from the Forgiver of sin and the Acceptor of repentance" — for "ghāfir al-dhanb" ("Forgiver of sin") is indefinite, and it is not the most eloquent construction for an indefinite word to function as an adjectival qualifier of a definite word while it is indefinite. The second way is that its case-ending — although it is indefinite — runs parallel with the ending of the preceding word, as if it were an adjectival qualifier thereto, because it is placed between that word and His statement ذِي الطَّوْلِ ("Possessor of abundance"), which is definite. It is also permissible that its ending — although it is indefinite — follows the ending of the preceding word, since it is a matter of praise, and praise sometimes follows in its case-ending the preceding word, while sometimes there is a deviation from the ending of the preceding word with the accusative or the nominative, as the poet said:

   May my people not be far away, they who are the poison of the enemies and the plague of the slaughter-beasts,

   they who descend upon every battlefield, and the pure ones of woven girdles. (3)

   And as the Exalted, whose praise is great, said: وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الْوَدُودُ * ذُو الْعَرْشِ الْمَجِيدُ * فَعَّالٌ لِمَا يُرِيدُ ("And He is the Forgiving, the Loving, the Possessor of the Throne, the Glorious, Doer of what He wills"); He gave "faʿʿāl" the nominative although it is purely indefinite, and let its ending follow the ending of "al-ghafūr al-wadūd." The other view is that its meaning is: that this belongs to His attribute, the Exalted, since He has always been forgiving toward the sins of the servants — before the sending down of this verse, at the time of its sending down, and thereafter — so that it is then a correct definite word and a correct adjectival qualifier. And He said غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ ("Forgiver of sin") and not "the sins" (al-dhunūb), because by it the verbal aspect is intended. As for His words وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ ("Acceptor of repentance"): "al-tawb" may be a plural of "tawba" (repentance), as one makes "dawma" into "dawm" and "ʿawma" into "ʿawm" — from "ʿawmat al-safīna" (the floating of the ship) — as the poet said:

   the floating of the ships; and when it raised itself up between them (4)

   And it may also be a verbal noun (maṣdar) from "tāba — yatūbu — tawban."

   Muḥammad ibn ʿUbayd al-Muḥāribī related to me, saying: Abū Bakr ibn ʿAyyāsh related to us, on the authority of Abū Isḥāq, saying: A man came to ʿUmar and said: "I have killed; is repentance possible for me?" He said: "Yes, act well and do not despair." Then he recited: حم تَنْزِيلُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ ("Ḥā Mīm. The sending down of the Book is from Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, Forgiver of sin and Acceptor of repentance").

   And His words: شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ("Severe in punishment"), the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: severe is His punishment for whomever He punishes among those who disobey Him. So do not rely upon the breadth of His mercy, but be on your guard against Him by avoiding His disobediences and fulfilling His obligations. For just as He does not make the people of crime and sin despair of His pardon and of the acceptance of the repentance of whoever among them repents of his crime, so too does He not make them safe from His punishment and His vengeance upon them on account of what they held permissible of what He has forbidden and the disobediences they committed.

   And His words: ذِي الطَّوْلِ ("Possessor of abundance"), that is to say: Possessor of favor and of benefactions that are spread out over whomever He wills of His creatures. One says of this: "Indeed, a certain person is possessor of abundance (ṭawl) toward his companions," when he grants them favors.

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

   * Mention of those who said that:

   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 words: ذِي الطَّوْلِ ("Possessor of abundance"), he says: Possessor of breadth and wealth.

   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 the words of Allah ذِي الطَّوْلِ ("Possessor of abundance"): wealth.

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: ذِي الطَّوْلِ ("Possessor of abundance"): that is to say Possessor of benefactions.

   And some of them said: "al-ṭawl" means: power.

   * Mention of those who said that:

   Yūnus related to us, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His words ذِي الطَّوْلِ ("Possessor of abundance"), he said: "al-ṭawl" is power; that is "al-ṭawl."

   And His words: لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ("There is no god but He; to Him is the return"), that is to say: there is no one worshipped who is worthy of worship except Allah, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, whose attribute is as He, whose praise is exalted, has described. So worship nothing besides Him. إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ("To Him is the return"), the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says: to Allah is your return and your coming back, O people. So worship Him, for nothing that you might worship besides Him will then avail you.

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   The footnotes:

   (3) The two verses are by Khirnaq bint Haffān, from a poem in which she lamented her husband Bishr ibn ʿAmr ibn Marthad al-Ḍubaʿī, as well as her son ʿAlqama ibn Bishr and a group of her people who were killed in a battle (Khizānat al-adab al-kubrā of al-Baghdādī 2:306). The point of evidence in the two verses is that it is permissible to break off the adjectival qualifier of a definite word with the "wāw"; her statement "wa-l-ṭayyibūn" (and the pure ones) is an adjectival qualifier of "qawmī" (my people) broken off by the "wāw," for praise and glorification, which she makes the predicate of an omitted subject, that is to say: "they are the pure ones." And her statement "al-nāzilīn" (the descending ones) is broken off with the accusative, although it is an adjectival qualifier of the nominative "qawmī." It received the accusative on account of an assumed verb, that is to say "I praise" or "I mean" or something similar. The author (al-Ṭabarī) adduces both as evidence that His words "ghāfir al-dhanb" are an adjectival qualifier of the word "Allah," which stands in the genitive through "min," and that with this adjectival qualifier the genitive is permissible for connection, just as breaking off with the accusative is permissible under the assumption of a verb, that is to say "I single out in particular the Forgiver of sin," or with the nominative under the assumption of a subject, that is to say "He is the Forgiver of sin."

   (4) This is the first hemistich of a verse whose poet we do not know, nor the second hemistich. The author adduces it as evidence that "al-tawb" in His words "qābil al-tawb" may be a plural of "tawba," as one makes "dawma" into "dawm" and "ʿawma" into "ʿawm," from "ʿawm al-safīna" (the floating of the ship).

   Show original Arabic

   وفي قوله: ( غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ ) وجهان ; أحدهما: أن يكون بمعنى يغفر ذنوب العباد, وإذا أريد هذا المعنى, كان خفض غافر وقابل من وجهين, أحدهما من نية تكرير " من ", فيكون معنى الكلام حينئذ: تنـزيل الكتاب من الله العزيز العليم, من غافر الذنب, وقابل التوب, لأن غافر الذنب نكرة, وليس بالأفصح أن يكون نعتا للمعرفة, وهو نكرة, والآخر أن يكون أجرى في إعرابه, وهو نكرة على إعراب الأول كالنعت له, لوقوعه بينه وبين قوله: ( ذِي الطَّوْلِ ) وهو معرفة.. وقد يجوز أن يكون أتبع إعرابه وهو نكرة إعراب الأول, إذ كان مدحا, وكان المدح يتبع إعرابه ما قبله أحيانا, ويعدل به عن إعراب الأول أحيانا بالنصب والرفع كما قال الشاعر: لا يَبْعَــدَنْ قَــوْمي الَّــذِينَ هــمُ سُـــمُّ العُــدَاةِ وآفَــةُ الجُــزُرِ النَّــــازِلينَ بِكُـــلّ مُعْـــتَركٍ والطَّيِّبِيـــــنَ مَعَــــاقِدَ الأزُر (3) وكما قال جلّ ثناؤه وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الْوَدُودُ * ذُو الْعَرْشِ الْمَجِيدُ * فَعَّالٌ لِمَا يُرِيدُ فرفع فعال وهو نكرة محضة, وأتبع إعراب الغفور الودود; والآخر: أن يكون معناه: أن ذلك من صفته تعالى, إذ كان لم يزل لذنوب العباد غفورا من قبل نـزول هذه الآية وفي حال نـزولها, ومن بعد ذلك, فيكون عند ذلك معرفة صحيحة ونعتا على الصحة. وقال: ( غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ ) ولم يقل الذنوب, لأنه أريد به الفعل, وأما قوله: ( وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ ) فإن التوب قد يكون جمع توبة, كما يجمع الدَّومة دَوما والعَومة عَوما من عومة السفينة, كما قال الشاعر: عَوْمَ السَّفِينَ فَلَمَّا حالَ دُونَهُمُ (4) وقد يكون مصدر تاب يتوب توبا. وقد حدثني محمد بن عبيد المحاربي, قال: ثنا أبو بكر بن عياش, عن أبي إسحاق, قال: جاء رجل إلى عمر, فقال: إني قتلت, فهل لي من توبة؟ قال: نعم, اعمل ولا تيأس, ثم قرأ: ( حم تَنـزيلُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ اللَّهِ الْعَزِيزِ الْعَلِيمِ غَافِرِ الذَّنْبِ وَقَابِلِ التَّوْبِ ) . وقوله: ( شَدِيدُ الْعِقَابِ ) يقول تعالى ذكره: شديد عقابه لمن عاقبه من أهل العصيان له, فلا تتكلوا على سعة رحمته, ولكن كونوا منه على حذر, باجتناب معاصيه, وأداء فرائضه, فإنه كما أن لا يؤيس أهل الإجرام والآثام من عفوه, وقبول توبة من تاب منهم من جرمه, كذلك لا يؤمنهم من عقابه وانتقامه منهم بما استحلوا من محارمه, وركبوا من معاصيه. وقوله: ( ذِي الطَّوْلِ ) يقول: ذي الفضل والنعم المبسوطة على من شاء من خلقه; يقال منه: إن فلانا لذو طول على أصحابه, إذا كان ذا فضل عليهم. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني عليّ, قال: ثنا أبو صالح, قال: ثني معاوية, عن عليّ, عن ابن عباس, قوله: ( ذِي الطَّوْلِ ) يقول: ذي السعة والغنى . 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, في قول الله ( ذِي الطَّوْلِ ) الغنى. حدثنا بشر, قال: ثنا يزيد, قال: ثنا سعيد, عن قتادة ( ذِي الطَّوْلِ ) : أي ذي النعم. وقال بعضهم: الطول: القدرة. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا يونس, قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب, قال: قال ابن زيد, فى قوله ( ذِي الطَّوْلِ ) قال: الطول القدرة, ذاك الطول. وقوله: ( لا إِلَهَ إِلا هُوَ إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ) يقول: لا معبود تصلح له العبادة إلا الله العزيز العليم, الذي صفته ما وصف جلّ ثناؤه, فلا تعبدوا شيئا سواه ( إِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ ) يقول تعالى ذكره: إلى الله مصيركم ومرجعكم أيها الناس, فإياه فاعبدوا, فإنه لا ينفعكم شيء عبدتموه عند ذلك سواه. --------------------------- الهوامش : (3) البيتان لخرنق بنت هفان من قصيدة رثت بها زوجها بشر بن عمرو بن مرثد الضبعي ، وابنها علقمة بن بشر وجماعة من قومها قتلوا في معركة ( خزاية الأدب الكبرى للبغدادي 2 : 306 ) ومحل الشاهد في البيتين أنه يجوز قطع نعت المعرفة بالواو ، فقولها: والطيبون نعت مقطوع بالواو من قومي ، للمدح والتعظيم ، يجعله خبر مبتدأ محذوف ، أي هم الطيبون . وقوله" النازلين" : مقطوع فالنصب ، مع أنه نعت لقومي المرفوع . وإنما نصب بفعل مقدر أي أمدح أو أعني ، أو نحوهما ، واستشهد بهما المؤلف ( الطبري ) على أن قوله تعالى :" غافر الذنب" نعت للفظ" الله" المجرور بمن ، ويجوز في هذا النعت الجر على الإتباع ، كما يجوز فيه القطع بالنصب ، بتقدير فعل : أي أخص غافر الذنب ، أو بالرفع ، بتقدير مبتدإ : أي هو غافر الذنب . (4) هذا صدر بيت لم نعرف قائله ، ولا عجزه . استشهد به المؤلف على أن التوب في قوله تعالى :" قابل التوب" : قد يكون جمع توبة كما يجمع الدومة دوما ، والعومة عوما ، من عوم السفينة .