Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The statement concerning the explanation of His saying: "On the Day when Allah will gather the messengers and will say: 'What response did you receive?' They will say: 'We have no knowledge; indeed, You are the Knower of the unseen.'" (109)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is mentioned, says: And fear Allah, O people. And listen to His admonition to you and His reminder to you, and be on your guard against the Day when Allah will gather the messengers — then He omitted "and be on your guard" and was content with His saying: "And fear Allah and listen," without stating it explicitly, just as the poet (al-rājiz) said:

   "I fed her straw and cold water, until her two eyes overflowed with abundant tears." (1)

   He means: "and I gave her cold water to drink," but he was content with his saying "I fed her straw" and had no need to state explicitly "I gave her to drink," because the listener, when he hears it, understands its meaning. Likewise in His saying: "the Day when Allah gathers the messengers," He omitted "and be on your guard," because the listener knows its meaning, and He was content with His saying: "And fear Allah and listen," since that was a warning concerning the matter of Allah, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, who warns His creation against His punishment for their acts of disobedience.

   * * *

   As for His saying: "What response did you receive?", by it He means: What did your communities answer you, (2) when you called them to the profession of My oneness, the acknowledgment of Me, acting according to My obedience, and refraining from My disobedience? = "They will say: 'We have no knowledge.'"

   * * *

   The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed concerning its explanation.

   Some of them said: The meaning of their saying "We have no knowledge" is not that the messengers denied that they knew what their communities had done, but rather they had, through the terror of that Day, forgotten the answer, and then they answered — after their reason had returned to them — with the testimony against their communities.

   * Mention of who said that:

   12986 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn Mufaḍḍal related to us. He said: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "On the Day when Allah gathers the messengers and will say: 'What response did you receive?' They will say: 'We have no knowledge,'" he said: That is because they came to a place where the reason was bewildered, (3) and when they were asked, they said: "We have no knowledge," and then they came to another place, and there they testified against their people.

   12987 - Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Ḥukkām related to us, on the authority of ʿAnbasa ......... he said: I heard al-Ḥasan say concerning His saying: "On the Day when Allah gathers the messengers," the verse, he said: because of the terror of that Day. (4)

   12988 - Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: "On the Day when Allah gathers the messengers and will say: 'What response did you receive?'", then they are seized with panic, and He says: What response did you receive? And they say: We have no knowledge!

   * * *

   And others said: Its meaning is: We have no knowledge except what You have taught us.

   * Mention of who said that:

   12989 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning His saying: "On the Day when Allah gathers the messengers and will say: 'What response did you receive?'", and they say: = We have no knowledge except what You have taught us = "Indeed, You are the Knower of the unseen."

   * * *

   And others said: Its meaning is: They said: We have no knowledge, except a knowledge that You know better than we do.

   * Mention of who said that:

   12990 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya ibn Ṣāliḥ related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "On the Day when Allah gathers the messengers and will say: 'What response did you receive?' They will say: 'We have no knowledge,'" except a knowledge that You know better than we do.

   * * *

   And others said: Its meaning is: "What response did you receive?" means: What did they do after you? And what news did they bring about?

   * Mention of who said that:

   12991 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, concerning His saying: "On the Day when Allah gathers the messengers and will say: 'What response did you receive?'", what did they do after you? And what news did they bring about after you? = "They will say: 'We have no knowledge; indeed, You are the Knower of the unseen.'"

   * * *

   Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct of the opinions is the saying of the one who said: "Its meaning is: We have no knowledge, except a knowledge that You know better than we do," because He, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, has reported about them that they said: "We have no knowledge; indeed, You are the Knower of the unseen," that is to say: Indeed, there is not hidden from You what we possess of knowledge of that, nor anything else of the hidden and the manifest knowledge. The people only denied that they possessed, concerning that about which they were asked, a knowledge that He, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, does not know = not that they denied knowing what they had perceived. How could it be so, while He, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, reports about them that they report what the communities answered them, and that they will call witnesses to the fact that they conveyed the message, (5) such that He, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, said: "And thus We have made you a moderate community, that you may be witnesses over the people and that the Messenger may be a witness over you" [Surah Al-Baqarah:143].

   * * *

   As for what Ibn Jurayj said, namely that its meaning is: "What did the communities do after you? And what news did they bring about?", that is an interpretation that has no meaning. For the prophets possessed no knowledge of what would happen after them, except that which Allah made known to them concerning it, and when they are asked about what the communities did after them, while the matter is so, then it is only said to them: What did We make you know would occur among them after you? And the apparent meaning of Allah's report, the Exalted whose praise is mentioned, concerning His questioning of them, indicates something other than that.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : يَوْمَ يَجْمَعُ اللَّهُ الرُّسُلَ فَيَقُولُ مَاذَا أُجِبْتُمْ قَالُوا لا عِلْمَ لَنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ عَلامُ الْغُيُوبِ (109) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: واتقوا الله، أيها الناس. واسمعوا وَعْظه إياكم وتذكيرَه لكم, واحذروا يَوْم يَجْمع الله الرسل = ثم حذف وَاحْذَرُوا ، واكتفى بقوله: وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاسْمَعُوا ، عن إظهاره, كما قال الراجز: عَلَفْتُهَـــا تِبْنًــا وَمَــاءً بَــارِدًا حَــتَّى شَــتَتْ هَمَّالَــةً عَيْنَاهَــا (1) يريد: " وسقيتها ماء باردًا ", فاستغنى بقوله " علفتها تبنًا " من إظهار " سقيتها ", إذ كان السامع إذا سَمِعه عرف معناه. فكذلك في قوله: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل " ، حذف وَاحْذَرُوا لعلم السامع معناه, اكتفاءً بقوله: وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَاسْمَعُوا ، إذ كان ذلك تحذيرًا من أمر الله تعالى ذكره، خلقَه عقابَه على معاصيه. * * * وأما قوله: " ماذا أُجبتم " ، فإنه يعني به: ما الذي أجابتكم به أممكم، (2) حين دعوتموهم إلى توحيدي، والإقرار بي، والعمل بطاعتي، والانتهاء عن معصيتي؟ =" قالوا لا علم لنا ". * * * فاختلف أهل التأويل في تأويل ذلك. فقال بعضهم: معنى قولهم: " لا علم لنا " ، لم يكن ذلك من الرسل إنكارًا أن يكونوا كانوا عالمين بما عملت أممهم, ولكنهم ذَهِلوا عن الجواب من هَوْلِ ذلك اليوم, ثم أجابوا بعد أن ثَابَتْ إليهم عقولهم بالشَّهادة على أممهم. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 12986 - حدثني محمد بن الحسين قال ، حدثنا أحمد بن مفضل. قال ، حدثنا أسباط, عن السديّ: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل فيقول مَاذا أجبتم قالوا لا علم لنا " ، قال: فذلك أنهم نـزلوا منـزلا ذَهِلت فيه العقول, (3) فلما سئلوا قالوا: " لا علم لنا "، ثم نـزلوا منـزلا آخر, فشهدوا على قومهم. 12987 - حدثنا ابن حميد قال ، حدثنا حكام, عن عنبسة......... قال : سمعت الحسن يقول في قوله: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل " ، الآية، قال : من هول ذلك اليوم. (4) 12988 - حدثنا الحسن بن يحيى قال ، أخبرنا عبد الرزاق قال ، أخبرنا الثوري, عن الأعمش, عن مجاهد في قوله: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل فيقول ماذا أجبتم " ، فيفزعون, فيقول: ماذا أجبتم؟ فيقولون: لا علم لنا ! * * * وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك: لا علم لنا إلا ما علّمتنا. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 12989- حدثنا محمد بن بشار قال، حدثنا مؤمل قال، حدثنا سفيان، عن الأعمش، عن مجاهد في قوله: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل فيقول ماذا أجبتم "، فيقولون: = لا علم لنا إلا ما علمتنا =" إنك أنتَ علام الغيوب ". * * * وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك: قالوا لا علم لنا، إلا علمٌ أنت أعلَمُ به منَّا. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 12990- حدثني المثنى قال ، حدثنا عبد الله بن صالح قال ، حدثني معاوية بن صالح, عن علي بن أبي طلحة, عن ابن عباس قوله: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل فيقول ماذا أجبتم قالوا لا علم لنا " ، إلا علم أنت أعلم به منا. * * * وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك: " ماذا أجبتم " ، ماذا عملوا بعدكم؟ وماذا أحدثوا؟ * ذكر من قال ذلك: 12991 - حدثنا القاسم قال ، حدثنا الحسين قال ، حدثني حجاج, عن ابن جريج قوله: " يوم يجمع الله الرسل فيقول ماذا أجبتم " ، ماذا عملوا بعدكم؟ وماذا أحدثوا بعدكم؟ =" قالوا لا علم لنا إنك أنت علام الغيوب ". * * * قال أبو جعفر: وأولى الأقوال بالصواب، قولُ من قال: " معناه: لا علم لنا، إلا علم أنت أعلم به منّا ", لأنه تعالى ذكره أخبر عنهم أنهم قالوا: " لا علم لنا إنَّك أنتَ علام الغيوب " ، أي: إنك لا يخفى عليك ما عندنا من علم ذلك ولا غيره من خفيِّ العلوم وجليِّها. فإنما نَفى القومُ أن يكون لهم بما سُئلوا عنه من ذلك علم لا يعلمه هو تعالى ذكره = لا أنَّهم نَفَوا أن يكونوا علموا ما شاهدُوا. كيف يجوز أن يكون ذلك كذلك، وهو تعالى ذكره يخبر عنهم أنَّهم يُخْبرون بما أجابتهم به الأمم، وأنهم يسْتشهدون على تبليغهم الرسالة شهداء, (5) فقال تعالى ذكره: وَكَذَلِكَ جَعَلْنَاكُمْ أُمَّةً وَسَطًا لِتَكُونُوا شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ وَيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ عَلَيْكُمْ شَهِيدًا [سورة البقرة:143]. * * * وأما الذي قاله ابن جريج، من أن معناه: " ماذا عملت الأمم بعدكم؟ وماذا أحدثوا؟" فتأويل لا معنَى له. لأن الأنبياء لم يكن عندها من العلم بما يَحدُث بعدها إلا ما أعلمها الله من ذلك, وإذا سئلت عَمَّا عملت الأمم بعدها والأمر كذلك، فإنما يقال لها: ماذا عَرَّفناك أنه كائن منهم بعدك؟ وظاهرُ خَبر الله تعالى ذكره عن مسألته إيّاهم، يدلّ على غير ذلك. ------------------------ الهوامش : (1) مضى تخريج البيت وتفسيره فيما سلف 1: 264 ، وكان في المطبوعة هنا: "حتى غدت همالة" ، غير ما في المخطوطة. (2) انظر تفسير"ماذا" فيما سلف 4: 292 ، 346 ، 347/8: 359. (3) في المطبوعة: "ذلك أنهم لما نزلوا" ، وفي المخطوطة: "فذلك أنهم لما نزلوا" وأثبت ما في المخطوطة ، وحذفت"لما" لأنه لا موضع لها هنا ، وكأنها زيادة من عجلة الناسخ. (4) الأثر: 12987 - هذا إسناد ناقص بلا شك ، بين"عتبة" ، و"الحسن البصري" ، فوضعت مكانه النقط ، وقد أعجلت أن أجد مثله فيما سلف ، فتركته حتى أجد تمامه. (5) في المطبوعة: "سيشهدون على تبليغهم" ، حرف ما في المخطوطة وأساء.