Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنكُمُ ٱلذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا أَن كُنتُمْ قَوْمًا مُّسْرِفِينَ ("Should We then turn the Reminder away from you, neglecting you, because you are an excessive people?") (43:5)

   The exegetes differed over the explanation of this. Some of them said: its meaning is: Should We then leave you alone and abandon you, O polytheists (mushrikīn), as you suppose, and not admonish you with Our punishment because you are a polytheistic people?

   * Mention of who said that:

   Mohammed 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 saying of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you — he said: you reject the Qurʾān and then are not punished for it.

   Mohammed ibn ʿUmāra related to me, saying: ʿUbayd Allāh ibn Mūsā related to us, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl, on the authority of Abū Ṣāliḥ, his saying: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you — he said: namely, the punishment.

   Mohammed related to me, saying: Aḥmad related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you — he said: should We then turn the punishment away from you?

   Mohammed ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, his saying: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you, neglecting you, because you are an excessive people? — he says: did you think that We would forgive you while you have not yet done what you were commanded?

   And others said: no, rather its meaning is: Should We then refrain from admonishing you with this Qurʾān and not admonish you with it, because you are an excessive people?

   * Mention of who said that:

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you, neglecting you, because you are an excessive people? — that is to say: polytheists. By Allah, had this Qurʾān been taken away when the first of this community rejected it, they would have perished; but He called them to it for twenty years, or for as long as Allah willed.

   Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning his saying: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you — he said: had this community not believed, the Reminder would have been turned away from them. He said: the Reminder is what was sent down to them of what Allah commanded and forbade them; neglecting [you], so that nothing of it would be mentioned to you.

   And the most correct of the two explanations herein is the explanation of the one who explained it thus: Should We then turn the punishment away from you and abandon you and turn away from you, because you are an excessive people that does not believe in its Lord?

   And we have said that this is the most correct of the two explanations of the verse because Allah, blessed and exalted is He, followed it up with His report about the bygone communities before the communities whom He threatens in this verse, concerning their rejection of their messengers and the punishment that He sent down upon them. In this is an indication that His saying Should We then turn the Reminder away from you, neglecting you is a threat from Him to those addressed among the polytheists, since in their rejecting what their messenger brought them from Allah they were treading the same path as the predecessors before them.

   The reciters differed over the recitation of this. Most of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa read it "in kuntum" with a kasra on the alif of "in," with the meaning: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you, neglecting you, since you are an excessive people. And some of the reciters of Mecca and Kūfa, and most of the reciters of Basra, read it "an" with a fatḥa on the alif of "an," with the meaning: because you were.

   The Arabic language scholars differed over the reason for the fatḥa on the alif of "an" in this place. Some of the grammarians of Basra said: it was read with a fatḥa because the meaning of the sentence is: because you were. And some of the grammarians of Kūfa said: whoever reads it with a fatḥa, it is as though he intended something in the past, so that he said: in speech you say, "I came to you, an (= when) you forbade me," by which you mean: when you forbade me; and one reads it with a kasra when one means: "I come to you in (= if) you forbid me." And similar to it is: وَلَا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ أَن صَدُّوكُمْ ("And let not the hatred of a people, an (= because) they barred you, lead you...") — and in ṣaddūkum with both kasra and fatḥa.

   فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَّفْسَكَ عَلَىٰ آثَارِهِمْ إِن لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَٰذَا الْحَدِيثِ ("Perhaps you would destroy yourself with grief over their footsteps, if they do not believe in this message") — he said: and the Arabs recite the saying of al-Farazdaq:

   "Would you grieve because the two ears of Qutayba were cut off, openly, while you did not grieve over the killing of Ibn Ḥāzim?" (1)

   He said: and one recites:

   "Would you grieve because the departing travel-companion has gone away, and the bond of al-Ṣafā of ʿAzza has been severed?" (2)

   He said: and in each of the two verses there is the same [to be found] of the kasra and the fatḥa as in the other.

   And the correct view concerning this, in our opinion, is: that the kasra and the fatḥa on the alif in this place are two well-known recitations among the recitations of the cities, both correct in meaning; with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has hit upon the correct one. That is because the Arabs, when a future-tense verb precedes "an" — in the sense of a conditional clause — sometimes read its alif with a kasra, so that they treat it purely as a conditional particle, and then say: "I rise in (= if) you rise"; and sometimes they read it with a fatḥa, while keeping that conditional meaning in view, and then say: "I rise an you rose," with the explanation: because you rose. But when the verb preceding it is in the past tense, they speak exclusively with a fatḥa on the alif of "an," and then say: "I rose an you rose." And with that [form] the revelation came, and with it the poetry of the poets accords.

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   The footnotes:

   (1) The verse is among the evidentiary verses of the grammarians and among the evidentiary verses of al-Farrāʾ in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 294). He said concerning the saying of the Exalted in sūrat al-Zukhruf: Should We then turn the Reminder away from you, neglecting you, an kuntum: al-Aʿmash read in kuntum with kasra, and ʿĀṣim and al-Ḥasan read an kuntum with a fatḥa on "an," as though they intended something in the past; and you say in speech: "Would I revile you an (= because) you forbade me," and you read it with kasra when you mean: "would I revile you in (= if) you forbid me?" And similar to it is: let not the hatred of a people in ṣaddūkum lead you — you read "in" with kasra or fatḥa; and similar: perhaps you would destroy yourself over their footsteps in they do not believe. And the Arabs recite the saying of al-Farazdaq: "Would you grieve in the two ears of Qutayba..." the verse, with fatḥa and kasra. The transmission of the verse in Sharḥ shawāhid al-Mughnī of al-Suyūṭī reads: "Would you be wrathful" instead of "Would you grieve"; he said: and the pronoun of "would you be wrathful" refers back to Qays. Al-ḥazz: the cutting off. And Ibn Khāzim: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Khāzim, with two dotted letters, as al-Dāraquṭnī and others vocalized it, the commander of Khurāsān; he governed it for two years, then the people of Khurāsān rose against him and killed him, and they brought his head to ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān. And Qutayba ibn Muslim al-Bāhilī, one of the greatest commanders of the Muslims and conquerors of the lands of the East; he is the one who conquered Khwārazm, Samarkand, and Bukhārā, and he was killed in the year ninety-seven, may Allah have mercy on him. And it seems that the author's statement "I came to you an you forbade me" contains a copyist's error of al-Farrāʾ's statement in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān: "would I revile you, you forbade me."

   (2) The verse is by Kuthayyir ʿAzza, and it is among the evidentiary verses of al-Farrāʾ, who cited it after the preceding evidentiary verse; he said: it was recited to me "Would you grieve an (= because) the departing travel-companion has gone away..." the verse. Then he said: and in each of the two verses there is the same [to be found] of the fatḥa and the kasra as in the other.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا أَنْ كُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُسْرِفِينَ (5) اختلف أهل التأويل في تأويل ذلك, فقال بعضهم: معناه: أفنضرب عنكم ونترككم أيها المشركون فيما تحسبون, فلا نذكركم بعقابنا من أجل أنكم قوم مشركون. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 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 عزّ وجلّ: ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا ) قال: تكذّبون بالقرآن ثم لا تعاقبون عليه. حدثني محمد بن عمارة, قال: ثنا عبيد الله بن موسى, قال: اخبرنا سفيان, عن إسماعيل, عن أبي صالح, قوله: ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا ) قال: بالعذاب. حدثني محمد, قال: ثنا أحمد, قال: ثنا أسباط, عن السديّ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا ) قال: أفنضرب عنكم العذاب. حدثني محمد بن سعد, قال: ثني أبي, قال: ثني عمي, قال: ثني أبي, عن أبيه, عن ابن عباس, قوله: ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا أَنْ كُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُسْرِفِينَ ) يقول: أحسبتم أن نصفح عنكم ولما تفعلوا ما أمرتم به. وقال آخرون: بل معنى ذلك: أفنترك تذكيركم بهذا القرآن, ولا نذكركم به, لأن كنتم قوما مسرفين. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر, قال: ثنا يزيد, قال: ثنا سعيد, عن قتادة ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا أَنْ كُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُسْرِفِينَ ) : أي مشركين, والله لو كان هذا القرآن رفع حين ردّه أوائل هذه الأمة لهلكوا, فدعاهم إليه عشرين سنة, أو ما شاء الله من ذلك. حدثنا ابن عبد الأعلى, قال: ثنا ابن ثور, عن معمر, عن قتادة, في قوله: ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا ) قال: لو أن هذه الأمة لم يؤمنوا لضرب عنهم الذكر صفحا, قال: الذكر ما أنـزل عليهم مما أمرهم الله به ونهاهم صفحا, لا يذكر لكم منه شيئا. وأولى التأويلين في ذلك بالصواب تأويل من تأوّله: أفنضرب عنكم العذاب فنترككم ونعرض عنكم, لأن كنتم قوما مسرفين لا تؤمنون بربكم. وإنما قلنا ذلك أولى التأويلين بالآية, لأن الله تبارك وتعالى أتبع ذلك خبره عن الأمم السالفة قبل الأمم التي توعدها بهذه الآية في تكذيبها رسلها, وما أحل بها من نقمته, ففي ذلك دليل على أن قوله: ( أَفَنَضْرِبُ عَنْكُمُ الذِّكْرَ صَفْحًا ) وعيد منه للمخاطبين به من أهل الشرك, إذ سلكوا في التكذيب بما جاءهم عن الله رسولهم مسلك الماضين قبلهم. واختلفت القرّاء في قراءة ذلك, فقرأته عامة قرّاء المدينة والكوفة " إنْ كُنْتُمْ" بكسر الألف من " إن " بمعنى: أفنضرب عنكم الذكر صفحا إذ كنتم قوما مسرفين. وقرأه بعض قرّاء أهل مكة والكوفة وعامة قرّاء البصرة " أنْ" بفتح الألف من " أنْ", بمعنى: لأن كنتم. واختلف أهل العربية في وجه فتح الألف من أن في هذا الموضع, فقال بعض نحويي البصرة: فتحت لأن معنى الكلام: لأن كنتم. وقال بعض نحويي الكوفة: من فتحها فكأنه أراد شيئا ماضيا, فقال: وأنت تقول في الكلام: أتيت أن حرمتني, تريد: إذ حرمتني, ويكسر إذا أردت: أتيت إن تحرمني. ومثله: وَلا يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شَنَآنُ قَوْمٍ أَنْ صَدُّوكُمْ و (إِنْ صَدُّوكُمْ) بكسر وبفتح. فَلَعَلَّكَ بَاخِعٌ نَفْسَكَ عَلَى آثَارِهِمْ إِنْ لَمْ يُؤْمِنُوا بِهَذَا الْحَدِيثِ أَسَفًا قال: والعرب تنشد قول الفرزدق? أتَجْــزَعُ أنْ أُذْنــا قُتَيْبَــةَ حُزَّتـا جِهـارًا وَلـمْ تَجْـزَعْ لقَتْـلِ ابنِ حَازِمِ (1) قال: وينشد? أتَجْــزَعُ أنْ بـانَ الخَـلِيطُ المُـوَدّعُ وَحَـبْلُ الصَّفَـا مِـنْ عَـزَّةَ المُتَقَطِّـعُ (2) قال: وفي كل واحد من البيتين ما في صاحبه من الكسر والفتح. والصواب من القول في ذلك عندنا: أن الكسر والفتح في الألف في هذا الموضع قراءتان مشهورتان في قرأة الأمصار صحيحتا المعنى, فبأيتهما قرأ القارئ فمصيب, وذلك أن العرب إذا تقدم " أن " وهي بمعنى الجزاء فعل مستقبل كسروا ألفها أحيانا, فمحضوا لها الجزاء, فقالوا: أقوم إن قمت, وفتحوها أحيانا, وهم ينوون ذلك المعنى, فقالوا: أقوم أن قمت بتأويل, لأن قمت, فإذا كان الذي تقدمها من الفعل ماضيا لم يتكلموا إلا بفتح الألف من " أن " فقالوا: قمت أن قمت, وبذلك جاء التنـزيل, وتتابع شعر الشعراء. ------------------------ الهوامش: (1) البيت من شواهد النحويين ومن شواهد الفراء في معاني القرآن ( الورقة 294 ) قال عند قوله تعالى في سورة الزخرف : ( أفنضرب عنكم الذكر صفحا أن كنتم( قرأ الأعمش : ( إن كنتم ) بالكسر . وقرأ عاصم والحسن ( أن كنتم ) بفتح أن ، كأنهم أرادوا شيئا ماضيا ، وأنت تقول في الكلام : أأسبك أن حرمتني ، وتكسر إذا أردت : أأسبك إن تحرمني ؟ ومثله : ( لا يجرمنكم شنآن قوم إن صدوكم) تكسر إن وتفتح ومثله ( فعلك باخع نفسك على آثارهم إن لم يؤمنوا) . والعرب تنشد . قول الفرزدق" أتجزع إن أذنا قتيبة ..." البيت . بالفتح والكسر . ورواية البيت في شرح شواهد المغني للسيوطي :" أتغضب" في مكان" أتجزع" قال : وضمير تغضب راجع على قيس. والحز : القطع . وابن خازم : عبد الله بن خازم ، بمعجمتين ، كما ضبطه الدارقطني وغيره أمير خراسان ، وليها سنتين ، ثم ثار به أهل خرسان ، فقتلوه ، وحملوا رأسه إلى عبد الملك بن مروان. وقتيبة بن مسلم الباهلي ، من أكبر قواد المسلمين ، وفاتحي بلاد الشرق ، وهو الذي افتتح خوارزم وسمرقند وبخارى . وقتل سنة سبع وتسعين رحمه الله . والظاهر أن قول المؤلف" أتيت أن حرمتني" . فيه تصحيف من الناسخ لقول الفراء في معاني القرآن" أأسبك حرمتني" . (2) البيت لكثير عزة ، وهو من شواهد الفراء أورده بعد الشاهد السابق ، قال : أنشدوني" أتجزع أن بان" ... البيت . ثم قال : وفي كل واحد من البيتين ، ما في صاحبه من الفتح والكسر .