Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   And His statement أَلْقِيَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ ("Cast into Hell (jahannam) every stubborn disbeliever!") contains an omitted element, whose indication present in the text renders it unnecessary to mention, namely: it is said: "Cast into Hell," that is: the Exalted said: "Cast!" Thus the command was directed to the companion, with a singular wording that has the form of address of two persons. Concerning this there are two modes of explanation.

   The first: that "the companion" (al-qarīn) has the meaning of two persons, like "the messenger" (al-rasūl), and like a noun that is used with the wording of the singular for the singular, the dual, and the plural; thus His statement أَلْقِيَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ ("Cast into Hell") is referred back to the meaning.

   The second: that it is as some of the philologists of Arabic said, namely that the Arabs direct to one person and to a group the command that they direct to two persons. So they say to one man: "Woe to you, drive them both forth and chase them both away." He mentioned that he had heard this from the Arabs, and said: and one of them recited to me this verse:

   I said to my companion: "Do not hold us both back with the uprooting of its roots — rather cut down the mugwort!"

   He said: and Abū Tharwān recited to me:

   If you both rebuke me, O son of ʿAffān, then I shall restrain myself, and if you both summon me, then I shall protect a defensible honor.

   He said: and it is related that the reason for this with them is that the least of a man's helpers with his camels and his sheep are two, and likewise the travel party, the least of which is three; so the address was directed to one person as if it were to his two companions. He said: do you not see that the poets repeatedly say: "O my two companions," "O my two friends"? Imruʾ al-Qays said:

   My two friends, pass with me by Umm Jundab, that we may fulfill the needs of the tormented heart.

   Then he said:

   Do you not see that I, whenever I came freshly (plucked), found her scents fragrant, even though she was not perfumed?

   Thus he returned to the singular, while the beginning of the statement concerned two persons. He said: and one of them recited to me:

   My two friends, stand up at ʿAṭāla and look: is it a fire that you see at Dhū Abānayn, or is it lightning?

   And some relate it as: "Is it a fire that we see?"

   كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ ("every stubborn disbeliever") means: every denier of the oneness of Allah, stubborn — and that is the one who turns away from the truth and the path of guidance.

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   Footnotes:

   (6) The verse is by Muḍarris ibn Ribʿī al-Fuqʿasī al-Asadī, and not by Yazīd ibn al-Ṭathriyya as al-Kisāʾī and Thaʿlab attributed it to him, and as al-Jawharī took it from him in the Ṣiḥāḥ. Thus said Yāqūt in what he wrote concerning the Ṣiḥāḥ. In his transmission it reads "li-ḥāṭibī" instead of "li-ṣāḥibī," and his statement "lā taḥbisānā" — for the Arabs sometimes addressed one person with the wording of two persons (see the Sharḥ shawāhid al-Shāfiya of ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Baghdādī, Cairo edition). Al-Farrāʾ said in the Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 309) concerning His statement "alqiyā fī jahannam": the Arabs command one person and a group with what is commanded to two persons, so that they say to one man: "Depart from us." And I heard one of them say: "Woe to you, saddle them both and drive them both forth." And one of them recited to me: "I said to my companion ... the verse." He said: and it is related as "wājdiz," by which "wājtazz" (cut off) is meant. End of quotation.

   (7) This verse too is among the testimonia of al-Farrāʾ in the Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (folio 309) for the aforementioned point — that the Arabs sometimes address a group and one person with that with which they address two persons. He said, after he had recited the verse: and we hold that the reason for this with them is that the least of a man's helpers with his camels and his sheep are two, and likewise that the travel party numbers at least three persons, so that the address was directed to one person as if it were to his two companions. End of quotation.

   In (al-Lisān: j-z-r) it states that the Arabs sometimes addressed one person with the wording of two persons, as Suwayd ibn Kurāʿ al-ʿUklī said:

   The daughter of al-ʿAwfī, Laylā, says: "Do you not see how Ibn Kurāʿ is continually startled?"

   Out of fear of these two emirs I have lost my sleep, and (the sleeplessness) covered me with a grey whiteness (of the hair).

   If you both then hold me in check, then restrain groups that torment, among the people, suckling folk.

   And if you both rebuke me ... the verse.

   He said: this indicates that he was addressing two persons: Saʿīd ibn ʿUthmān and the one who replaces him or is present with him. And his statement "fa-in antumā aḥkamtumānī" is likewise an indication that he is addressing two persons. And his statement "aḥkamtumānī" means: you both have restrained me from mocking him. Its origin is from "aḥkamtu al-dābba" (I held the mount in check): when one places upon it the rein of the bit. And his statement "wa-in tadaʿānī" means: if you both leave me in peace, then I protect my honor against whoever torments me; and if you both rebuke me, I restrain myself and am patient. And "al-ruḍḍaʿ" is the plural of "rāḍiʿ," and that is the base person. End of quotation. According to this (latter), there is in the verse no testimony for al-Farrāʾ nor for the author.

   (8) This verse is the opening of a poem by Imruʾ al-Qays which he composed about his wife Umm Jundab of (the tribe) Ṭayyiʾ (Mukhtār al-shiʿr al-jāhilī, with commentary by Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā, Ḥalabī edition, p. 43). The testimony in it is that he addresses his friend with the wording of the dual, because they were three on the journey. After this opening comes his statement:

   For if you both would regard me for a moment of time, it would profit me with Umm Jundab.

   (9) This verse is the third of the two verses in the poem, and it too is by Imruʾ al-Qays. Al-Farrāʾ said, after his preceding words concerning the previous testimony: then he said "alam tara" (do you not see), thus he returned to the singular, while the beginning of his statement concerned two persons. I (the annotator) say: the words of al-Farrāʾ rest upon his transmission of the verse. There is another transmission for his statement "alam tara," namely "alam tarayā" with the form of address of the dual, in which those two are his two travel companions, and upon that rests the testimony in the verse. This is the transmission of al-Aʿlam al-Shantamarī in his commentary on the Six Poems, and the commentator of the Mukhtār al-shiʿr al-jāhilī has confirmed it.

   (10) The verse is by Suwayd ibn Kurāʿ al-ʿUklī, according to (al-Tāj: ʿ-ṭ-l). And ʿAṭāla is a mountain of the Banū Tamīm. And "Dhū Abānayn" means: the place where the two mountains are — Abān al-Abyaḍ (the white), which belongs to the Banū Jarīd of the Banū Fazāra in particular, and the black, which belongs to the Banū Wāliba of the Banū al-Ḥārith ibn Thaʿlaba ibn Dūdān ibn Asad, in which Fazāra shares with them. Between the two mountains lies about a parasang, and the Wādī al-Rumma cuts between them. Thus said al-Bakrī in (Muʿjam mā istaʿjam, p. 95). Al-Farrāʾ said, after he had transmitted the verse: some relate it as "anāran tarā." End of quotation. According to this latter transmission there is in the verse no testimony for what the author intended, namely that the Arabs address one person with that with which they address the dual. And his statement "min dhī Abānayn" is the transmission of al-Ṭabarī in the original, and it differs from the transmission of al-Farrāʾ in the Maʿānī al-Qurʾān (309), which reads: "min naḥwi bābayn." In al-Tāj it states: and Bābayn — a dual — is a place in al-Baḥrayn.

   Show original Arabic

   وقوله ( أَلْقِيَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ ) فيه متروك استغني بدلالة الظاهر عليه منه, وهو: يقال ألقيا في جهنم, أو قال تعالى: ألقيا, فأخرج الأمر للقرين, وهو بلفظ واحد مخرج خطاب الاثنين. وفي ذلك وجهان من التأويل: أحدهما: أن يكون القرين بمعنى الاثنين, كالرسول, والاسم الذي يكون بلفظ الواحد في الواحد, والتثنية والجمع, فردّ قوله ( أَلْقِيَا فِي جَهَنَّمَ ) إلى المعنى. والثاني: أن يكون كما كان بعض أهل العربية يقول, وهو أن العرب تأمر الواحد والجماعة بما تأمر به الاثنين, فتقول للرجل ويلك أرجلاها وازجراها, وذكر أنه سَمِعها من العرب; قال: وأنشدني بعضهم: فَقُلْـــتُ لصَــاحِبي لا تَحْبســانا بــنزعِ أُصُولِــهِ واجْــتَزَّ شـيحا (6) قال: وأنشدني أبو ثروان: فـإنْ تَزْجُـرانِي يـا بْنَ عَفَّان أنزجِرْ وَإنْ تَدَعــانِي أحْـمِ عِرْضـا مُمنَعَّـا (7) قال: فيروى أن ذلك منهم أن الرجل أدنى أعوانه في إبله وغنمه اثنان, وكذلك الرفقة أدنى ما تكون ثلاثة, فجرى كلام الواحد على صاحبيه, وقال: ألا ترى الشعراء أكثر قيلا يا صاحبيّ يا خليليّ, وقال امرؤ القَيس: خَـلِيلَيَّ مُـرَّا بِـي عـلى أُمّ جُـنْدَبِ نُقَــضِّ لُبانــاتِ الفُـؤَادِ المُعَـذَّبِ (8) ثم قال: أَلـمْ تَـرَ أنّـي كُلَّمـا جِـئْتُ طارِفـا وَجَـدْتُ بِهـا طِيْبـات وَإنْ لَّـمْ تَطَيَّبِ (9) فرجع إلى الواحد, وأوّل الكلام اثنان; قال: وأنشدني بعضهم: خَـلِيلَي قُومـا فـي عَطالَـةَ فـانْظُرَا أنـارٌ تَـرَى مِـنْ ذِي أبـانَيْنِ أَمْ بَرْقا (10) وبعضهم يروي: أنارا نرى. ( كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ عَنِيدٍ ) يعني: كل جاحد وحدانية الله عنيد, وهو العاند عن الحقّ وسبيل الهدى. ------------------- الهوامش : (6) البيت لمضرس بن ربعي الفقعسي الأسدي ، وليس ليزيد بن الطثرية كما نسبه الكسائي وثعلب إليه ، وأخذه عنه الجوهري في الصحاح . قاله ياقوت فيما كتبه على الصحاح . وفي روايته : " لحاطبي " في موضع لصاحبي ، وقوله : " لا تحبسانا " ، فإن العرب ربما خاطبت الواحد بلفظ الاثنين ( انظر شرح شواهد الشافية لعبد القادر البغدادي طبع القاهرة ) . وقال الفراء في معاني القرآن ( الورقة 309 عند قوله تعالى " ألقيا في جهنم " . العرب تأمر الواحد والقوم بما يؤمر به الاثنان ، فيقولان للرجل قوما عنا . وسمعت بعضهم يقول : ويحك ارحلاها وازجراها . وأنشدني بعضهم " فقلت لصاحبي ... البيت " . قال : ويروى : واجدز يريد : واجتز . أ هـ . (7) وهذا البيت أيضًا من شواهد الفراء في معاني القرآن ( الورقة 309 ) على ما تقدم في نظيره من أن العرب قد تخاطب القوم والواحد بما تخاطب به الاثنين ، قال بعد أن أنشد البيت : ونرى أن ذلك منهم أن الرجل أدنى أعوانه في إبله وغنمه اثنان ، وكذلك الرفقة أدنى ما يكونون ثلاثة ، فجرى كلام الواحد على صاحبيه . أ هـ . وقال في ( اللسان : جزر ) إن العرب ربما خاطبت الواحد بلفظ الاثنين ، كما قال سويد بن كراع العكلي : تقـول ابنـة العـوفي ليـلي ألا ترى إلـى ابـن كـراع لا يـزال مفزعـا مخافــة هـذين الأمـيرين سـهدت رقــادي وغشـتني بياضـا مقزعـا فــإن أنتمــا أحكمتماني فـازجرا أراهـط تـؤذي مـن النـاس رضعا وإن تزجراني ... البيت . قال : وهذا يدل على أنه خاطب اثنين : سعيد بن عثمان ، ومن ينوب عنه ، أو يحضر معه . وقوله فإن أنتما أحكمتماني : دليل أيضا على أنه يخاطب اثنين . وقوله : أحكمتماني : أي منعتماني من هجائه . واصله من أحكمت الدابة : إذا جعلت فيها حكمة اللجام وقوله : " وإن تدعاني " أي إن تركتماني حميت عرضي ممن يؤذيني . وإن زجرتماني انزجرت وصبرت . والرضع : جمع راضع ، وهو اللئيم . أ هـ . وعلى هذا لا يكون في البيت شاهد للفراء ، ولا للمؤلف . (8) هذا البيت مطلع قصيدة لامرئ القيس قالها في زوجته أم جندب من طيئ ( مختار الشعر الجاهلي بشرح مصطفى السقا طبعة الحلبي ص 43 ) والشاهد فيه أن يخاطب خليله ، بلفظ التثنية ، لأنهم كانوا ثلاثة في سفر . وبعد هذا المطلع قوله : فإنكمـــا إن تنظــراني ســاعة مـن الدهـر تنفعنـي لـدى أم جندب (9) وهذا البيت هو ثالث البيتين في القصيدة ، وهو لامرئ القيس أيضًا . قال الفراء بعد كلامه الذي سبق في الشاهد الذي قبله : ثم قال : ألم تر ، فرجع إلى الواحد ، وأول كلامه اثنان . قلت : وكلام الفراء بناء على روايته في البيت . وهناك رواية أخرى في قوله " ألم تر " وهي : " ألم تريا " بصيغة الخطاب للمثنى ، وهما رفيقاه ، و شاهد عليها في البيت . وهي رواية الأعلم الشنتمري في شرحه للأشعار الستة ، وأثبتها شارح مختار الشعر الجاهلي . (10) البيت لسويد بن كراع العكلي عن ( التاج : عطل ) وعطالة : جبل لبني تميم وذو وأبانين : أي المكان الذي فيه الجبلان : أبان الأبيض ، وهو لبني جريد من بني فزارة خاصة، والأسود لبني والبة من بني الحارث بن ثعلبة بن دودان بن أسد ، ويشركهم فيه فزارة . وبين الجبلين نحو فرسخ ، ووادي الرمة يقطع بينهما . قاله البكري في ( معجم ما استعجم ص 95 ) . وقال الفراء بعد أن روى البيت: بعضهم يرويه : " أنارا ترى " . أ هـ . وعلى هذه الرواية الأخيرة لا يكون في البيت شاهد على ما أراده المؤلف من أن العرب تخاطب الواحد بما تخاطب به المثنى . وقوله " من ذى أبانين " هذه رواية الطبري في الأصل ، وهي تختلف عن رواية الفراء في معاني القرآن ( 309 ) وهي : " من نحو بابين " . قال في التاج : وبابين - مثنى - موضع بالبحرين