Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ (50:3) (When we have died and have become dust [shall we then be brought back]? That is a far-fetched return).

   Someone might ask: there is no prior mention of the resurrection (al-baʿth), such that it would be reported about this people that they were in disbelief regarding that to which they had been invited; what then is the sense of the report about them that they denied something to which they had not been invited, and of their answer to something about which they had not been asked? The answer to that is: the people of the language sciences (ahl al-ʿarabiyya) differ on this, so we shall first mention what they have said about it, and then follow it with our own exposition, if Allah the Exalted wills. One of the grammarians of Baṣra said concerning ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ): it is not mentioned that he [the human being] will return, and that is — and Allah knows best — because it rested upon an answer; it is as though it had been said to them: indeed, you will return, whereupon they said ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) (When we have died and have become dust? That is a far-fetched return). And one of the grammarians of Kūfa said concerning His saying ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ): it is an utterance preceded by nothing made visible of which this could be the answer, but the meaning of it is left implicit (muḍmar). For it was — and Allah knows best — as follows: ق وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ (Qāf. By the glorious Qurʾān) — indeed, you will surely be resurrected after death — whereupon they said: when we have become dust, shall we be resurrected? Thus they denied the resurrection, and then they said ( ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) and denied it utterly. His saying ( بَعِيدٌ ) (far-fetched) is like saying to a man who has erred in some matter: you have strayed far from what is correct, that is to say: you have erred.

   And the correct view of the saying on this, in our opinion, is that in this utterance something has been omitted, which the indication of what is mentioned has made dispensable to state. That is because Allah, through His report about the denial of these polytheists (mushrikīn) — about whose denial of His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ He began to report at the start of this surah with His saying بَلْ عَجِبُوا أَنْ جَاءَهُمْ مُنْذِرٌ مِنْهُمْ فَقَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ هَذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ (But they marveled that there came to them a warner from among themselves, and the disbelievers said: this is a wondrous thing) — pointed to His threat against them on account of their denial of Muḥammad ﷺ. It is thus as though He said to them, when they, denying the message of Allah to His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, said هَذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ (this is a wondrous thing): you will know, O community, when you are resurrected on the Day of Resurrection, what your state will be on account of your denial of Muḥammad ﷺ and your denial of his prophethood. Whereupon they, answering the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, said ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ) (When we have died and have become dust) — [shall] we know and see that which you hold out to us in prospect on account of our denial of you? ( ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) (That is a far-fetched return), that is to say: that will not come to pass, and we shall not return alive after our death. Thus, through the indication of His saying بَلْ عَجِبُوا أَنْ جَاءَهُمْ مُنْذِرٌ مِنْهُمْ فَقَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ هَذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ , the mention became dispensable of that which I have mentioned of the report about His threat against them.

   And among that which was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, he said: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His saying ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ): they said: how will Allah bring us back to life, when we have become bones and decayed remains, and we have vanished into the earth? — an indication of the correctness of what we have said, namely that they denied the resurrection when they were threatened with it.

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   The footnotes:

   (3) An addition to connect the text; we surmise that it was dropped by the copyist's pen.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ (3) يقول القائل: لم يجر للبعث ذكر, فيخبر عن هؤلاء القوم بكفرهم ما دعوا إليه من ذلك, فما وجه الخبر عنهم بإنكارهم ما لم يدعوا إليه, وجوابهم عما لم يسألوا عنه. قيل: قد اختلف أهل العربية في ذلك, فنذكر ما قالوا في ذلك, ثم نتبعه البيان إن شاء الله تعالى, فقال في ذلك بعض نحويِّي البصرة قال ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) , لم يذكر أنه راجع, وذلك والله أعلم لأنه كان على جواب, كأنه قيل لهم: إنكم ترجعون, فقالوا( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) وقال بعض نحويِّي الكوفة قوله : ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ) كلام لم يظهر قبله, ما يكون هذا جوابا له, ولكن معناه مضمر, إنما كان والله أعلم : ق وَالْقُرْآنِ الْمَجِيدِ لَتُبْعثنّ بعد الموت, فقالوا: أإذا كنا ترابا بُعثنا؟ جحدوا البعث, ثم قالوا( ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) جحدوه أصلا قوله ( بَعِيدٌ ) كما تقول للرجل يخطئ في المسألة, لقد ذهبت مذهبا بعيدا من الصواب: أي أخطأت. والصواب من القول في ذلك عندنا, أن في هذا الكلام متروكا استغني بدلالة ما ذُكر عليه من ذكره, وذلك أن الله دلّ بخبره عن تكذيب هؤلاء المشركين الذين ابتدأ هذه السورة بالخبر عن تكذيبهم رسوله محمدا صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم بقوله بَلْ عَجِبُوا أَنْ جَاءَهُمْ مُنْذِرٌ مِنْهُمْ فَقَالَ الْكَافِرُونَ هَذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ على وعيده إياهم على تكذيبهم محمدا صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم , فكأنه قال لهم: إذ قالوا منكرين رسالة الله رسوله محمدا صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم هَذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ ستعلمون أيها القوم إذا أنتم بُعثتم يوم القيامة ما يكون حالكم في تكذيبكم محمدا صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم , وإنكاركم نبوّته, فقالوا مجيبين رسول الله صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ) نعلم ذلك, ونرى ما تعدنا على تكذيبك ( ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) : أي أن ذلك غير كائن, ولسنا راجعين أحياء بعد مماتنا, فاستغني بدلالة قوله بَلْ عَجِبُوا أَنْ جَاءَهُمْ مُنْذِرٌ مِنْهُمْ فقال الكافرون هَذَا شَيْءٌ عَجِيبٌ من ذكر ما ذكرت من الخبر عن وعيدهم. وفيما حُدثت عن الحسين, قال: سمعت أبا معاذ يقول: ثنا عبيد, قال: سمعت الضحاك يقول في قوله ( أَئِذَا مِتْنَا وَكُنَّا تُرَابًا ذَلِكَ رَجْعٌ بَعِيدٌ ) قالوا: كيف يحيينا الله, وقد صرنا عظاما ورفاتا, وضللنا في الأرض, دلالة على صحة ما قلنا من أنهم أنكروا البعث إذا توعِّدوا به. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- الهوامش: (3) زيادة لربط الكلام ، ونظن أنها سقطت من قلم الناسخ .