Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ مَنْ يَضِلُّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ (117) (Indeed, your Lord knows best who strays from His path, and He knows best the rightly guided.) (6:117)

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad, the Prophet ﷺ: O Muḥammad, indeed your Lord, who has forbidden you to obey those who equate idols with Allah, lest they divert you from His path, knows better than you and better than all His creation which of His creatures strays from His path through the embellished words that the devils whisper to one another back and forth, so that they turn away from His obedience and from following what He has commanded. وهو أعلم بالمهتدين (and He knows best the rightly guided), He says: and He also knows better than you and than they who was upon steadfastness and rectitude; none of them remains hidden from Him. He says: so follow, O Muḥammad, what I have commanded you, and keep far from that which I have forbidden you, namely obeying those whom I have forbidden you to obey, for I know the guiding and the misguiding among My creatures better than you.

   * * *

   The grammarians of Arabic differed concerning the case-position of "man" (who) in His saying: إن ربك هو أعلم من يضل (indeed your Lord knows best who strays).

   Some grammarians of Basra said: its position is genitive (khafḍ) by an implicit "bāʾ." He said: and the meaning of the saying is: indeed your Lord knows best concerning who strays. (28)

   * * *

   And some grammarians of Kufa said: its position is nominative (rafʿ), because it has the meaning of "ayyu" (which), and what gives it the nominative is "yaḍillu" (strays). (29)

   * * *

   Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct ruling concerning this is that it is nominative by "yaḍillu," and that it has the meaning of "ayyu." For in the language of the Arabs no noun is known to stand in the genitive without a genitive-causer, such that this could be a counterpart to that.

   * * *

   And some claimed that His saying أعلم (knows best) in this place has the meaning of "yaʿlamu" (He knows), and they adduced as proof for their statement the verse of Ḥātim al-Ṭāʾī:

   "Ṭayyiʾ concluded, without us, an alliance, and Allah knows best: we were no traitors to them." (30)

   And the saying of al-Khansāʾ:

   "The people know best that his bowl circles about on the morning of the wind, or travels by night." (31)

   And this which the speaker of this interpretation said, although it is permissible in the language of the Arabs, the saying of Allah, whose remembrance is exalted, does not belong to it: إن ربك هو أعلم من يضل عن سبيله (indeed your Lord knows best who strays from His path). That is because He followed it up with His saying وهو أعلم بالمهتدين (and He knows best the rightly guided), so that by the insertion of the "bāʾ" with "al-muhtadīn" (the rightly guided) He made clear that "aʿlam" does not have the meaning of "yaʿlamu." For if it had the meaning of "yafʿalu" (He does), it would not be joined with the "bāʾ," just as one does not say: "huwa yaʿlamu bi-Zayd" with the meaning: he knows Zayd.

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   The footnotes:

   (28) See what passed previously in volume 11: 560, note 1, and that the one who said it is al-Akhfash.

   (29) See its elaboration in Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 352, and this is the statement of al-Farrāʾ.

   (30) The verse is not in the Dīwān of Ḥātim, and it is in the tafsīr of al-Qurṭubī 7: 72, with regard to this place from the tafsīr of Abū Jaʿfar. And his word "ḥilfan" is with a kasra on the ḥāʾ and the lām; he gave the lām the kasra of the ḥāʾ for the sake of poetic necessity. And had he said "ḥalafan" (with a fatḥa and a kasra on the lām), which is a verbal noun of "ḥalafa yaḥlifu" like "al-ḥilf" (with a kasra followed by a sukūn), then it would have been correct, for "al-ḥilf" which is the pact is only called "ḥalafan" with the verbal noun of "ḥalafa" in the meaning of "he swore," because the pact is confirmed by the oath and the vow.

   (31) Her Dīwān: 104, in the elegy for her brother Ṣakhr, and after it follows:

   "And when he kindled and his cauldron boiled, then, excellent is the lord of the fire and the pot!"

   And her word "taghdū" means: she sets out in the morning to his people and his guests. And "ghadāta al-rīḥ" (the morning of the wind) means: a morning in winter, in the time of drought and scarcity of milk; "wa-tasrī" means: by night. And her word "aḍāʾa" (kindled) means: he lit his fire so that the pots might be set upon it and the guests might see it.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : إِنَّ رَبَّكَ هُوَ أَعْلَمُ مَنْ يَضِلُّ عَنْ سَبِيلِهِ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِالْمُهْتَدِينَ (117) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره لنبيه محمد صلى الله عليه وسلم: يا محمد، إن ربك الذي نهاك أن تطيع هؤلاء العادلين بالله الأوثانَ, لئلا يُضِلوك عن سبيله, هو أعلم منك ومن جميع خلقه أيُّ خلقه يَضلّ عن سبيله بزخرف القول الذي يوحِي الشياطين بعضُهم إلى بعض, فيصدُّوا عن طاعته واتباع ما أمر به =(وهو أعلم بالمهتدين)، يقول: وهو أعلم أيضًا منك ومنهم بمن كان على استقامة وسدادٍ, لا يخفى عليه منهم أحد . يقول: واتبع، يا محمد، ما أمرتك به, وانته عما نهيتك عنه من طاعة مَنْ نهيتك عن طاعته, فإني أعلم بالهادي والمضلِّ من خلقي، منك . * * * واختلف أهل العربية في موضع: " مَن " في قوله: (إن ربك هو أعلم من يضل) . فقال بعض نحويي البصرة: موضعه خفض بنيّة " الباء ". قال: ومعنى الكلام: إن ربك هو أعلم بمن يضِلُّ . (28) * * * وقال بعض نحويي الكوفة: موضعه رفع, لأنه بمعنى " أيّ"، والرافع له " يضلّ" . (29) * * * قال أبو جعفر: والصواب من القول في ذلك أنه رفع بـ" يضل "، وهو في معنى " أيّ". وغير معلوم في كلام العرب اسم مخفوض بغير خافض، فيكون هذا له نظيرا. * * * وقد زعم بعضهم أن قوله: (أعلم)، في هذا الموضع بمعنى " يعلم ", واستشهد لقيله ببيت حاتم الطائي: فَحَــالَفَتْ طَيّـئٌ مِـنْ دُونِنَـا حِلِفًـا وَاللــهُ أَعْلَـمُ مـا كُنَّـا لَهُـمْ خُـذْلا (30) وبقول الخنساء: القَــــوْمُ أَعْلَـــمُ أَنَّ جَفْنَتَـــهُ تَعْــدُو غَــدَاةَ الــرِّيحِ أَوْ تَسـري (31) وهذا الذي قاله قائل هذا التأويل، وإن كان جائزًا في كلام العرب, فليس قولُ الله تعالى ذكره: (إن ربك هو أعلم من يضل عن سبيله)، منه. وذلك أنه عطف عليه بقوله: (وهو أعلم بالمهتدين)، فأبان بدخول " الباء " في" المهتدين " أن " أعلم " ليس بمعنى " يعلم ", لأن ذلك إذ كان بمعنى " يفعل "، لم يوصل بالباء, كما لا يقال: " هو يعلم بزيد ", بمعنى: يعلم زيدًا . ------------------ الهوامش : (28) انظر ما سلف 11 : 560 ، تعليق : 1 ، وأن قائله هو الأخفش . (29) انظر تفصيل ذلك في معاني القرآن للفراء 1 : 352 ، وهذا قول الفراء . (30) البيت ليس في ديوان حاتم ، وهو في تفسير القرطبي 7 : 72 ، عن هذا الموضع من تفسير أبي جعفر : وقوله : (( حلف )) هو بكسر الحاء واللام ، ألحق اللام كسرة الحاء لضرورة الشعر . ولو قال (( حلفا )) ( بفتح وكسر اللام ) وهو مصدر (( حلف يحلف )) مثل (( الحلف )) ( بكسر فسكون ) ، لكان صوابًا ، لأن (( الحلف )) الذي هو العهد ، إنما سمى (( حلفًا )) بمصدر (( حلف )) بمعنى أقسم ، لأن العهد يوثق باليمين والقسم . (31) ديوانها : 104 ، في رثاء أخيها صخر ، وبعده : فَــإِذَا أَضَــاءَ وَجَــاشَ مِرْجَلُـهُ فَلَنِعْـــمَ رَبُّ النَّـــارِ والقِـــدْرِ وقولها : (( تغدو )) ، أي تغدو على قومه وضيوفه . و (( غداة الريح )) ، أي غدوة في زمن الشتاء ، في زمان القحط وقلة الألبان ، (( و تسرى )) . يعني في الليل . وقولها : (( أضاء )) ، أي أوقد ناره لتوضع عليها القدور ، ويراها الضيفان .