Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Explanation of the saying of Him, mighty is His mention: أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ يُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (Do you not know that to Allāh belongs the dominion over the heavens and the earth? He punishes whom He wills and forgives whom He wills, and Allāh is capable of all things) (40).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: He — exalted be His praise — says to His prophet Muḥammad, the blessing and peace of Allāh be upon him: Do these people not know — [He means those who say]: لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلا أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَةً (The Fire will not touch us except for a small number of days), who claim that they are the sons of Allāh and His beloved ones (25) — that Allāh is the governor of what is in the heavens and what is on the earth, the disposer over it and its creator? Nothing of what is in either of the two can escape that which He wills, because all of this is His possession and the disposal over it belongs to Him. There is no kinship between Him and anything of what is in both, nor in either of the two, such that He would favor someone on account of his close kinship with Him and thereby save him from His punishment while he is disbelieving in Him and contradicting His command and His prohibition — or make someone enter the Fire while he is obedient to Him, on account of his distant kinship with Him. Rather, He punishes whom He wills of His creatures in this worldly life for their disobedience, with death, swallowing up [by the earth], transformation [of form], and other kinds of His punishment; and He forgives whom He wills of them in this worldly life by accepting his repentance over his disbelief and his disobedience, and thus saves him from destruction and delivers him from the punishment — "and Allāh is capable of all things." He says: and Allāh — mighty and exalted is He — is capable of punishing whom He wills of His creatures for his disobedience, and of forgiving whom He wills of them by saving him from destruction through accepting his repentance and through other matters all together; capable, because the creation is His creation, and the dominion is His dominion, and the servants are His servants.

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   And His saying "Do you not know that to Allāh belongs the dominion over the heavens and the earth" (26) was issued as an address to him, the blessing and peace of Allāh be upon him, while what is intended by it are those whom I have mentioned of the factions of the Children of Israel who were in the city of the Messenger of Allāh, the blessing and peace of Allāh be upon him, and around it. We have already set forth the usage by the Arabs of something of this kind in their speech, with the proof-texts for it, in what preceded, in a manner that absolves us from repeating it in this place. (27)

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله عز ذكره : أَلَمْ تَعْلَمْ أَنَّ اللَّهَ لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالأَرْضِ يُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَيَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (40) قال أبو جعفر: يقول جل ثناؤه لنبيه محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم: ألم يعلم هؤلاء= [يعني القائلين]: لَنْ تَمَسَّنَا النَّارُ إِلا أَيَّامًا مَعْدُودَةً ، الزاعمين أنهم أبناء الله وأحباؤه (25) = أن الله مدبِّر ما في السموات وما في الأرض، ومصرفه وخالقه، لا يمتنع شيء مما في واحدة منهما مما أرادَه، لأن كل ذلك ملكه، وإليه أمره، ولا نسب بينه وبين شيء مما فيهما ولا مما في واحدة منهما، فيحابيه بسبب قرابته منه، فينجيه من عذابه، وهو به كافر، ولأمره ونهيه مخالف= أو يدخله النار وهو له مطيع لبعد قرابته منه، ولكنه يعذّب من يشاء من خلقه في الدنيا على معصيته بالقتل والخسف والمسخ وغير ذلك من صنوف عذابه، ويغفر لمن يشاء منهم في الدنيا بالتّوبة عليه من كفره ومعصيته، فينقذه من الهلكة، وينجيه من العقوبة =" والله على كل شيء قدير "، يقول: والله جل وعز على تعذيب من أرَاد تعذيبه من خلقه على معصيته، وغفرانِ ما أراد غفرانه منهم باستنقاذه من الهلكة بالتوبة عليه وغير ذلك من الأمور كلها= قادرٌ، لأن الخلق خلقُه، والملك ملكه، والعباد عباده. * * * وخرج قوله: " ألم تعلم أن الله له ملك السموات والأرض "، (26) خطابًا له صلى الله عليه وسلم، والمعنيُّ به من ذكرتُ من فرق بني إسرائيل الذين كانوا بمدينة رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وما حَوَاليها. وقد بيَّنا استعمال العرب نظيرَ ذلك في كلامها بشواهده فيما مضى، بما أغنى عن إعادته في هذا الموضع. (27) ---------------- الهوامش : (25) كان في المطبوعة: "ألم يعلم هؤلاء القائلون...الزاعمون" ، وفي المخطوطة: "ألم يعلم هؤلاء القائلين... الزاعمين" ، فأثبت ما في المخطوطة ، وزدت"يعني" بين قوسين ، فإني أرجح أنها سقطت من الناسخ. (26) انظر تفسير ألفاظ هذه الآية فيما سلف من نظائرها ، في فهارس اللغة. (27) انظر ما سلف 2: 484- 488.