Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   He, exalted be His mention, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: and when you see these, the hypocrites, o Muḥammad, their forms please you, on account of the proportion of their build and the beauty of their appearance. وَإِنْ يَقُولُوا تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ ("and when they speak, you listen to their speech"). He, exalted be His praise, says: and when they speak, you hear their words; their manner of speech resembles the manner of speech of [other] people. كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌ ("as though they were propped-up timber"). He says: it is as though these hypocrites were propped-up timber — there is no good in them, no understanding in them, and no knowledge; they are merely forms without intellect, and bodies without sense.

   And His word: يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ ("they suppose that every cry is against them"). He, exalted be His praise, says: these hypocrites suppose, on account of their corruption, their evil suspicion, and their lack of certainty, that every cry is directed against them, because they are in fear that Allah will send down concerning them a command by which He will tear away their veils and disgrace them, and permit the believers to kill them (qatl), to take their children as captives (sabī), and to seize their possessions. Thus they suppose, out of their fear of that, every time a revelation comes down from Allah to His Messenger, that it has come down with their ruin and their destruction. Allah, exalted be His praise, says to His Prophet ﷺ: they are the enemy, o Muḥammad, so beware of them, for their tongues, when they meet you, are with you, but their hearts are against you, together with your enemies; thus they are spies for your enemies against you.

   And His word: قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ ("may Allah curse them — how are they turned away!"). He says: may Allah disgrace them — toward which direction are they turned away from the truth?

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said — and I heard him say concerning the word of Allah: وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَهُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ ("and when you see them, their forms please you") ... the [rest of the] verse — he said: these are the hypocrites.

   And the reciters differed over the reading of His word: كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌ ("as though they were propped-up timber"). Most of the reciters of Medina and Kūfa, with the exception of al-Aʿmash and al-Kisāʾī, read this as ( خُشُبُ ) with ḍamma on the khāʾ and the shīn, as though they took it to be a plural of a plural: they made of khashaba [a piece of wood] the plural khishāb, and then made of khishāb the plural khushub, just as thamara [fruit] was made into thimār and then into thumur. And it is also possible that khushub with ḍamma on the khāʾ and the shīn is a plural of khashaba, whose shīn is pronounced one time with ḍamma and another time with sukūn, just as they made of akama [hill] the plural akum and akm, with ḍamma on the alif and the kāf one time and with sukūn of the kāf another time, and as is said: al-budun and al-budn, with ḍamma on the dāl and with sukūn of it, as a plural of badana [sacrificial camel]. And al-Aʿmash and al-Kisāʾī read this as ( خُشْبُ ) with ḍamma on the khāʾ and sukūn on the shīn.

   And the correct judgment concerning that is that they are two well-known readings and two eloquent linguistic forms, and with whichever of the two the reciter recites, he has hit upon the correct. And the sukūn of the middle [radical] in what occurs of the plural of fuʿula on the pattern fuʿl among the nouns is more frequent on the tongues of the Arabs; and that is like their plural of badana into budn, and of ajama [thicket] into ujm.

   Show original Arabic

   يقول جلّ ذكره لنبيه محمد صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم: وإذا رأيت هؤلاء المنافقين يا محمد تعجبك أجسامهم لاستواء خلقها وحسن صورها(وَإِنْ يَقُولُوا تَسْمَعْ لِقَوْلِهِمْ ) يقول جلّ ثناؤه: وإن يتكلموا تسمع كلامهم يشبه منطقهم منطق الناس (كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌ ) يقول كأن هؤلاء المنافقين خُشُب مسنَّدة لا خير عندهم ولا فقه لهم ولا علم، وإنما هم صور بلا أحلام، وأشباح بلا عقول. وقوله: (يَحْسَبُونَ كُلَّ صَيْحَةٍ عَلَيْهِمْ ) يقول جلّ ثناؤه: يحسب هؤلاء المنافقون من خُبثهمْ وسوء ظنهم، وقلة يقينهم كلّ صيحة عليهم، لأنهم على وجل أن يُنـزل الله فيهم أمرا يهتك به أستارهم ويفضحهم، ويبيح للمؤمنين قتلهم وسبي ذراريهم، وأخذ أموالهم، فهم من خوفهم من ذلك كلما نـزل بهم من الله وحي على رسوله، ظنوا أنه نـزل بهلاكهم وعَطَبهم. يقول الله جلّ ثناؤه لنبيه صَلَّى الله عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّم: هم العدوّ يا محمد فاحذرهم، فإن ألسنتهم إذا لَقُوكم معكم وقلوبهم عليكم مع أعدائكم، فهم عين لأعدائكم عليكم. وقوله: (قَاتَلَهُمُ اللَّهُ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ ) يقول: أخزاهم الله إلى أيّ وجه يصرفون عن الحقّ. حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال، قال ابن زيد، وسمعته يقول في قول الله: (وَإِذَا رَأَيْتَهُمْ تُعْجِبُكَ أَجْسَامُهُمْ ) ... الآية، قال: هؤلاء المنافقون. واختلفت القراء في قراءة قوله: (كَأَنَّهُمْ خُشُبٌ مُسَنَّدَةٌ ) فقرأ ذلك عامة قراء المدينة والكوفة خلا الأعمش والكسائي ( خُشُبُ ) بضم الخاء والشين، كأنهم وجهوا ذلك إلى جمع الجمع، جمعوا الخشبة خشَابا ثم جمعوا الخِشاب خُشُبا، كما جمعت الثَّمرةُ ثمارا، ثم ثُمُرًا. وقد يجوز أن يكون الخُشُب بضم الخاء والشين إلى أنها جمع خَشَبة، فتضم الشين منها مرة، وتُسكن أخرى، كما جمعوا الأكمة أكمًا وأكمًا بضم الألف والكاف مرة، وتسكين الكاف لها مرة، وكما قيل: البُدُن والبُدْن، بضم الدال وتسكينها لجمع البَدنة، وقرأ ذلك الأعمش والكسائي ( خُشْبُ ) بضم الخاء وسكون الشين. والصواب من القول في ذلك أنهما قراءتان معروفتان، ولغتان فصيحتان، وبأيتهما قرأ القارئ فمصيب وتسكين الأوسط فيما جاء من جمع فُعُلة على فُعْل في الأسماء على ألسن العرب أكثر وذلك كجمعهم البدنة بُدْنا، والأجمة أُجْما.