Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the words of the Exalted: وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَفَلَمْ تَكُنْ آيَاتِي تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ (45:31) (And as for those who disbelieved: were My verses not recited to you, but you behaved arrogantly and were a criminal people?).

   The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and as for those who denied the oneness of Allah and refused to acknowledge Him alone in divinity in the worldly life — to them it is said: were My verses not recited to you in the worldly life?

   If someone asks: is "ammā" (as for) not answered with the fāʾ? Where, then, is it? — then the answer is that it is said: it is the fāʾ in His words ( أَفَلَمْ ). And the correct form of the expression in Arabic, were it to be uttered in full and in its original shape, would be that it was said: "wa-ammā lladhīna kafarū fa-alam takun āyātī tutlā ʿalaykum" (and as for those who disbelieved, were My verses not recited to you), for the meaning of the expression is: and as for those who disbelieved, to them it is said: "alam" (were ... not). The position of the fāʾ is therefore at the beginning of the elided part that is required in the expression; and when that was elided — namely "yuqāl" (it is said) — and the hamza of interrogation came, the rule of which is that one begins with it, one began with it and the fāʾ was placed after it.

   And the Arabs sometimes omit the fāʾ that is the answer to "ammā" in a place such as this, when they omit the verb that takes the place of the answer to "ammā," as the Exalted, whose praise is exalted, said: فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ اسْوَدَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ أَكَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ (As for those whose faces became black: have you disbelieved after your belief?). The fāʾ was omitted, because the verb that is the answer to "ammā" was omitted, namely "fa-yuqāl" (and it is said); for the meaning of the expression is: as for those whose faces became black, to them it is said: have you disbelieved? And when that to which the fāʾ is attached was omitted — namely "yuqāl" — the fāʾ that is the answer to "ammā" fell away.

   And His words ( فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ ): he says: but you were too arrogant to listen to them and to believe in them, ( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ ) (and you were a criminal people), he says: and you were a people who committed sins and disbelief against Allah, and did not believe in a return, and did not believe in reward or punishment.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : وَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَفَلَمْ تَكُنْ آيَاتِي تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ (31) يقول تعالى ذكره: وأما الذين جحدوا وحدانية الله, وأبوا إفراده في الدنيا بالألوهة, فيقال لهم: ألم تكن آياتي في الدنيا تُتلى عليكم. فإن قال قائل: أوليست أمَّا تجاب بالفاء, فأين هي؟ فإن الجواب أن يقال: هي الفاء التي في قوله ( أَفَلَمْ ). وإنما وجه الكلام في العربية لو نطق به على بيانه, وأصله أن يقال: وأما الذين كفروا, فألم تكن آياتي تتلى عليكم, لأن معنى الكلام: وأما الذين كفروا فيقال لهم ألم, فموضع الفاء في ابتداء المحذوف الذي هو مطلوب في الكلام, فلما حُذفت يقال: وجاءت ألف استفهام, حكمها أن تكون مبتدأة بها, ابتدئ بها, وجعلت الفاء بعدها. وقد تُسقط العرب الفاء التي هي جواب " أما " في مثل هذا الموضع أحيانا إذا أسقطوا الفعل الذي هو في محل جواب أمَّا كما قال جلّ ثناؤه فَأَمَّا الَّذِينَ اسْوَدَّتْ وُجُوهُهُمْ أَكَفَرْتُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ فحذفت الفاء, إذ كان الفعل الذي هو في جواب أمَّا محذوفا, وهو فيقال, وذلك أن معنى الكلام: فأما الذين اسودّت وجوههم فيقال لهم: أكفرتم, فلما أسقطت, يقال الذي به تتصل الفاء سقطت الفاء التي هي جواب أمَّا. وقوله (فَاسْتَكْبَرْتُمْ) يقول: فاستكبرتم عن استماعها والإيمان بها( وَكُنْتُمْ قَوْمًا مُجْرِمِينَ ) يقول: وكنتم قوما تكسبون الآثام والكفر بالله, ولا تصدّقون بمعاد, ولا تؤمنون بثواب ولا عقاب.