Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of His word: ذَلِكَ أَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ الْقُرَى بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا غَافِلُونَ (131)

   ("That is because your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing while their inhabitants are heedless." (6:131))

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose remembrance is exalted, says: "dhālika an lam yakun rabbuka muhlika al-qurā bi-ẓulm" ("that is because your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing"), that is to say: We sent the messengers only, O Muḥammad, to those whose affair I have described and of whose tidings I have informed you, among the polytheists (mushrikīn) among mankind and the jinn, reciting to them My signs and warning them of the meeting of their return to Me — because of the fact that your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing.

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   And in the explanation of His word "bi-ẓulm" ("through wrongdoing") two aspects may apply:

   The first: "dhālika an lam yakun rabbuka muhlika al-qurā bi-ẓulm" ("that is because your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing"), that is to say: through the ascribing of partners (shirk) of the one who does such a thing, and the unbelief (kufr) of the one who is an unbeliever among its inhabitants, as Luqmān said: إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ ("Indeed, the ascribing of partners is truly a great wrongdoing") [Surah Luqmān: 13] = "wa-ahluhā ghāfilūn" ("while their inhabitants are heedless"), He says: He would not hasten them with the punishment until He had sent messengers to them who made them aware of the proofs of Allah against them, and warned them of the punishment of Allah on the day of their return to Him; and He was not the One who would seize them in heedlessness, so that they would say: مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلا نَذِيرٍ ("No bearer of glad tidings nor warner came to us").

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   And the other: "dhālika an lam yakun rabbuka muhlika al-qurā bi-ẓulm" ("that is because your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing"), He says: He would not destroy them without the making-aware and the admonition through the messengers and the signs and the lessons, so that He would thereby do them wrong; and Allah does not do His servants wrong. (47)

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   Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of the two statements according to me is the first statement: that its meaning is: that He would not destroy them because of their ascribing of partners, without sending messengers to them and without [completing] the excuse between Him and them. That is because His word "dhālika an lam yakun rabbuka muhlika al-qurā bi-ẓulm" ("that is because your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing") follows upon His word: أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي ("Did there not come to you messengers from among yourselves, reciting to you My signs?"). Therein, then, lies the clear proof that the import of His word "dhālika an lam yakun rabbuka muhlika al-qurā bi-ẓulm" ("that is because your Lord would not destroy the towns through wrongdoing") is only: We did that only because of the fact that We do not destroy the towns without admonition and making-aware. (48)

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   As for His word "dhālika" ("that"), it is permissible for it to be in the accusative (naṣb), with the meaning: We did that = and it is permissible for it to be in the nominative (rafʿ), with the meaning of the beginning [of a sentence], as though He said: that is so.

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   And as for "an", it is in the position of the accusative, with the meaning: We did that because of the fact that your Lord would not destroy the towns = and when that which placed it in the genitive is omitted, the verb attaches itself to it and places it in the accusative. (49)

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   The footnotes:

   (47) In the printed edition: "li-l-ʿabīd" ("for the servants"); and I have adopted what is in the manuscript.

   (48) See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān 1: 355; this is a refutation of al-Farrāʾ, and he is the holder of the second statement.

   (49) See Maʿānī al-Qurʾān of al-Farrāʾ 1: 355.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : ذَلِكَ أَنْ لَمْ يَكُنْ رَبُّكَ مُهْلِكَ الْقُرَى بِظُلْمٍ وَأَهْلُهَا غَافِلُونَ (131) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: (ذلك أن لم يكن ربك مهلك القرى بظلم) ، أي: إنما أرسلنا الرسل، يا محمد، إلى من وصفتُ أمرَه, وأعلمتك خبره من مشركي الإنس والجن، يقصون عليهم آياتي وينذرونهم لقاء معادهم إليَّ, من أجل أن ربَّك لم يكن مهلك القرى بظلم . * * * وقد يتَّجه من التأويل في قوله: " بظلم "، وجهان: أحدهما: (ذلك أن لم يكن ربك مهلك القرى بظلم) ، أي: بشرك مَنْ أشرك, وكفر مَنْ كفر من أهلها, كما قال لقمان: إِنَّ الشِّرْكَ لَظُلْمٌ عَظِيمٌ ، [سورة لقمان: 13] =(وأهلها غافلون)، يقول: لم يكن يعاجلهم بالعقوبة حتى يبعث إليهم رسلا تنبههم على حجج الله عليهم, وتنذرهم عذاب الله يوم معادهم إليه, ولم يكن بالذي يأخذهم غَفْلة فيقولوا: مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلا نَذِيرٍ . * * * والآخر: (ذلك أن لم يكن ربك مهلك القرى بظلم)، يقول: لم يكن ليهلكهم دون التنبيه والتذكير بالرُّسل والآيات والعبر, فيظلمهم بذلك, والله غير ظلامٍ لعبيده . (47) * * * قال أبو جعفر: وأولى القولين بالصواب عندي، القولُ الأول: أن يكون معناه: أن لم يكن ليهلكهم بشركهم، دون إرسال الرسل إليهم، والإعذار بينه وبينهم. وذلك أن قوله: (ذلك أن لم يكن ربك مهلك القرى بظلم)، عقيب قوله: أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ رُسُلٌ مِنْكُمْ يَقُصُّونَ عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِي ، فكان في ذلك الدليل الواضحُ على أن نصَّ قوله: (ذلك أن لم يكن ربك مهلك القرى بظلم)، إنما هو: إنما فعلنا ذلك من أجل أنَّا لا نهلك القرى بغير تذكيرٍ وتنبيه . (48) * * * وأما قوله: (ذلك)، فإنه يجوز أن يكون نصبًا, بمعنى: فعلنا ذلك = ويجوز أن يكون رفعًا، بمعنى الابتداء, كأنه قال: ذلك كذلك . * * * وأما " أنْ"، فإنها في موضع نصب، بمعنى: فعلنا ذلك من أجل أنْ لم يكن ربك مهلك القرى= فإذا حذف ما كان يخفضها، تعلق بها الفعل فنصب . (49) -------------------------- الهوامش : (47) في المطبوعة : (( للعبيد )) ، وأثبت ما في المخطوطة . (48) انظر معاني القرآن 1 : 355 ، فهذا رد على الفراء ، وهو صاحب القول الثاني . (49) انظر معاني القرآن للفراء 1 : 355 .