Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying: "And the word of your Lord is completed in truth and justice; none can change His words, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing." (6:115)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: and it has become complete, "the word of your Lord," by which He means the Qurʾān.

   He called it "word" (kalima), just as the Arabs say of a poem that the poet composes: "This is the word (kalima) of so-and-so."

   "In truth and justice" — He says: the word of your Lord has become complete in veracity and justice.

   And "the truth" (al-ṣidq) and "the justice" (al-ʿadl) stand in the accusative as a specifying clarification (tafsīr) of "the word," just as one says: "I have twenty dirhams" (whereby "dirham" stands in the accusative as a specification).

   "None can change His words" — He says: none can change what He has informed in His books shall come to pass, with regard to its occurrence at its time and its appointed term, of which Allah has informed that it shall take place therein. And that is similar to His saying, the Exalted whose praise is exalted: "They wish to change the word of Allah. Say: you shall not follow us; thus has Allah spoken beforehand." [Surah Al-Fatḥ: 15]. Their wish to change the word of Allah consisted of their request to the prophet of Allah to permit them to attend the campaign together with him, and their words to him and to the believers who were with him: "Let us follow you," after the report had come that Allah, the Exalted whose remembrance is exalted, had informed them in His Book with His saying: "If Allah then brings you back to a group of them and they ask you for permission to march out, then say: you shall never march out with me and you shall never fight an enemy together with me," the verses, [Surah At-Tawba: 83]. Thus they sought to change the word of Allah and His report — namely, that they would never march out with the prophet of Allah on an expedition (ghazwah), and would never fight an enemy (qitāl) together with him — through their words to them: "Let us follow you." Then Allah, the Exalted whose praise is exalted, said to his prophet Muḥammad (the Prophet ﷺ): "They wish to change" — through their request thereof to them — "the word of Allah and His report: Say: you shall not follow us; thus has Allah spoken beforehand." Thus, then, is the meaning of His saying "none can change His words": it is only: none can change what He has informed concerning a report that it shall come to pass, such that its coming, occurring, and happening would be annulled in the manner in which He, the Exalted whose praise is exalted, has informed it, for the fabricators add nothing to the books of Allah and take nothing away from them. And that is because the Jews and the Christians are without doubt the people of the books of Allah which He sent down to His prophets, and He, the Exalted whose praise is exalted, has informed that they distort something other than that of which He has informed that none can change it.

   And in accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes have spoken.

   Mention of who said that:

   13789- Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: "And the word of your Lord is completed in truth and justice; none can change His words" — he says: in truth and justice in what He has decreed.

   And as for His saying "and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing," its meaning is: and Allah is "the All-Hearing" of what these say who set up idols as equals to Allah, who swear by Allah with the most solemn of their oaths: that, if a sign were to come to them, they would surely believe in it, and of the remainder of the speech of His creatures. "The All-Knowing" — concerning that to which their oaths will lead, of faithfulness, veracity, falsehood, perjury, and the remainder of the affairs of His servants.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : وَتَمَّتْ كَلِمَةُ رَبِّكَ صِدْقًا وَعَدْلا لا مُبَدِّلَ لِكَلِمَاتِهِ وَهُوَ السَّمِيعُ الْعَلِيمُ (115) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: وكملت =" كلمة ربك ", يعني القرآن . * * * سماه " كلمة "، كما تقول العرب للقصيدة من الشعر يقولها الشاعر: " هذه كلمة فلان ". (21) . * * * =(صدقًا وعدلا)، يقول: كملت كلمة ربك من الصدق والعدل. * * * و " الصدق " و " العدل " نصبا على التفسير للكلمة, كما يقال: " عندي عشرون درهما " . (22) =(لا مبدِّل لكلماته)، يقول: لا مغيِّر لما أخبر في كتبه أنه كائن من وقوعه في حينه وأجله الذي أخبر الله أنه واقع فيه ، (23) وذلك نظير قوله جل ثناؤه يُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يُبَدِّلُوا كَلامَ اللَّهِ قُلْ لَنْ تَتَّبِعُونَا كَذَلِكُمْ قَالَ اللَّهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ ،[سورة الفتح:15]. فكانت إرادتهم تبديل كلام الله، مسألتهم نبيَّ الله أن يتركهم يحضرون الحرب معه, وقولهم له ولمن معه من المؤمنين: ذَرُونَا نَتَّبِعْكُمْ ، بعد الخبر الذي كان الله أخبرهم تعالى ذكره في كتابه بقوله: فَإِنْ رَجَعَكَ اللَّهُ إِلَى طَائِفَةٍ مِنْهُمْ فَاسْتَأْذَنُوكَ لِلْخُرُوجِ فَقُلْ لَنْ تَخْرُجُوا مَعِيَ أَبَدًا وَلَنْ تُقَاتِلُوا مَعِيَ عَدُوًّا الآية، [سورة التوبة: 83] , فحاولوا تبديل كلام الله وخبره بأنهم لن يخرجوا مع نبي الله في غَزاةٍ, ولن يقاتلوا معه عدوًّا بقولهم لهم: ذَرُونَا نَتَّبِعْكُمْ ، فقال الله جل ثناؤه لنبيه محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم: " يريدون أن يبدلوا "= بمسألتهم إياهم ذلك= كلامَ الله وخبره: قُلْ لَنْ تَتَّبِعُونَا كَذَلِكُمْ قَالَ اللَّهُ مِنْ قَبْلُ . فكذلك معنى قوله: (لا مبدِّل لكلماته)، إنما هو: لا مغيِّر لما أخبرَ عنه من خبر أنه كائن، فيبطل مجيئه وكونه ووُقُوعه على ما أخبرَ جل ثناؤه، لأنه لا يزيد المفترون في كتب الله ولا ينقصون منها. وذلك أن اليهود والنصارى لا شك أنهم أهلُ كتب الله التي أنـزلها على أنبيائه, وقد أخبر جل ثناؤه أنهم يحرِّفون غيرَ الذي أخبر أنَّه لا مبدِّل له . * * * وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل . * ذكر من قال ذلك: 13789- حدثنا بشر قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد, عن قتادة قوله: (وتمت كلمة ربك صدقًا وعدلا لا مبدل لكلماته)، يقول: صدقًا وعدلا فيما حكَم . * * * وأما قوله: (وهو السميع العليم)، فإن معناه: والله " السميع "، لما يقول هؤلاء العادلون بالله, المقسمون بالله جهد أيمانهم: لئن جاءتهم آية ليؤمنن بها, وغير ذلك من كلام خلقه=" العليم "، بما تؤول إليه أيمانهم من برٍّ وصدق وكذب وحِنْثٍ، وغير ذلك من أمور عباده . (24) ---------------- الهوامش : (21) انظر تفسير (( الكلمة )) فيما سلف 3 : 7 - 17 / 6 : 371 ، 410 - 412 / 8 : 432 / 9 : 410 / 10 : 129 ، 313 (22) (( التفسير )) ، هو (( التميز )) ، انظر فهارس المصطلحات فيما سلف . (23) انظر تفسير (( التبديل )) فيما سلف 11 : 335 ، وفهارس اللغة ( بدل ) . (24) انظر تفسير (( السميع )) و (( العليم )) فيما سلف من فهارس اللغة ( سمع ) و ( علم ) .