Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The discourse on the explanation of His statement: ثُمَّ لآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ (7:17) ("Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left, and You will not find most of them grateful.")

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The people of interpretation differed concerning the explanation of this.

   Some of them said: The meaning of His statement (I will surely come to them from before them) is: from the side of the Hereafter = (and from behind them): from the side of the worldly life = (and from their right): from the side of the truth = (and from their left): from the side of falsehood.

   * Mention of who said that:

   14369 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them), he says: I will cast doubt upon them concerning their Hereafter = (and from behind them): I will make them covetous of their worldly life = (and from their right): I will make the matter of their religion confusing for them = (and from their left): I will make sins alluring to them.

   * * *

   And there is related from Ibn ʿAbbās through this isnād an interpretation that differs from this, and that is what:

   14370 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them): that is to say from the worldly life = (and from behind them): from the Hereafter = (and from their right): from the side of their good deeds = (and from their left): from the side of their evil deeds.

   * * *

   And this narration is confirmed by that other one which:

   14371 - Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left), he said: as for "before them," that is from their side, and as for "from behind them," that is the matter of their Hereafter, and as for "from their right," that is from the side of their good deeds, and as for "from their left," that is from the side of their evil deeds.

   14372 - Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them), the verse: he came to them from before them and informed them that there is no resurrection and no Paradise and no Fire = "and from behind them": from the matter of the worldly life, so he beautified it for them and called them to it = "and from their right": from the side of their good deeds, so he held them back from them = "and from their left": he beautified for them the evil deeds and the sins, and called them to them, and commanded them with them. He comes to you, O son of Ādam, from every direction, except that he does not come to you from above you: he was not able to come between you and the mercy of Allah!

   * * *

   And others said: The meaning of His statement (from before them) is rather: from the side of their worldly life = (and from behind them): from the side of their Hereafter.

   * Mention of who said that:

   14373 - Muḥammad ibn Bashshār related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of Ibrāhīm, concerning His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them), he said: (from before them): from the side of their worldly life = (and from behind them): from the side of their Hereafter = (and from their right): from the side of their good deeds = (and from their left): from the side of their evil deeds.

   14374 - Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam: (Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left), he said: (from before them): from their worldly life = (and from behind them): from their Hereafter = (and from their right): from their good deeds = (and from their left): from the side of their evil deeds.

   14375 - Sufyān related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, on the authority of al-Ḥakam: (Then I will surely come to them from before them), he said: from the side of the worldly life, which he beautifies for them = (and from behind them): from the side of the Hereafter, which he makes them slow toward = (and from their right): from the side of the truth, which he turns them away from = (and from their left): from the side of falsehood, which he makes them covetous of and beautifies for them.

   14376 - Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn related to me, saying: Aḥmad ibn al-Mufaḍḍal related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: (Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left), as for (from before them), that is the worldly life: I call them to it and make them covetous of it = (and from behind them): that is from the Hereafter: I cast doubt upon them concerning it and make it seem far off to them = (and from their right): that means the truth, and I cast doubt upon them concerning it = (and from their left): that means falsehood: I make it light for them and make them covetous of it.

   14377 - Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, saying: Ibn Jurayj said concerning His statement: (from before them): from their worldly life, I make them covetous of it = (and from behind them): their Hereafter, I make them deny it and make them heedless of it = (and from their right): their good deeds, I make them heedless of them = (and from their left): the evil of their deeds, I beautify it for them.

   * * *

   And others said: The meaning of that is: from where they see and from where they do not see.

   * Mention of who said that:

   14378 - Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning the statement of Allah: (from before them and from their right), he said: from where they see = (and from behind them) = (and from their left): from where they do not see.

   14379 - Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.

   14380 - Ibn Wakīʿ and Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, both of them saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Manṣūr, he said: we discussed in the presence of Mujāhid His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left), and Mujāhid said: it is as He has said: he comes to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left = Ibn Ḥumayd added, saying: "he comes to them from there."

   14381 - Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz related to us, saying: Abū Saʿd al-Madanī related to us, saying: Mujāhid said, and he mentioned something similar to the narration of Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Abū ʿĀṣim.

   * * *

   Abū Jaʿfar said: And the most correct of these statements in my view is the statement of him who said: its meaning is: then I will surely come to them from all the directions of truth and falsehood, and I will turn them away from the truth and beautify falsehood for them. That is because this follows upon His statement: لأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ("I will surely lie in wait for them on Your straight path"), so he announced that he sits in wait for the children of Ādam upon the path that Allah has commanded them to traverse, namely what we have described concerning the religion of Allah, the religion of truth, and he comes to them in it from all its directions: from the direction that Allah has commanded them, so he turns them away from it, and that is "from before them and from their right" = and from the direction that Allah has forbidden them, so he beautifies it for them and calls them to it, and that is "from behind them and from their left."

   * * *

   And it was said: and He did not say "from above them," because the mercy of Allah descends upon His servants from above them.

   * Mention of who said that:

   14382 - Saʿd ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Ḥakam al-Miṣrī related to us, saying: Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar related to us, saying: al-Ḥakam ibn Abān related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (Then I will surely come to them from before them and from behind them and from their right and from their left), and He did not say "from above them," because mercy descends from above them.

   * * *

   And as for His statement: (and You will not find most of them grateful). He says: and You will not, my Lord, find most of the children of Ādam grateful for Your favor that You have bestowed upon them, such as Your honoring of their father Ādam with that with which You honored him, namely that You made Your angels prostrate to him and preferred him above me = and "their gratitude to Him" is their obedience to Him through the affirmation of His oneness and the following of His command and prohibition.

   * * *

   And Ibn ʿAbbās said concerning that what:

   14383 - Al-Muthannā related to me concerning it, saying: ʿAbdullāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His statement: (and You will not find most of them grateful), he says: affirmers of the oneness (of Allah).

   ---------------------

   Footnotes:

   (40) In the printed edition it reads "and I remove it" (wa-abʿaduhā), but I have adopted what is in the manuscript.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : ثُمَّ لآتِيَنَّهُمْ مِنْ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ وَعَنْ أَيْمَانِهِمْ وَعَنْ شَمَائِلِهِمْ وَلا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ (17) قال أبو جعفر: اختلف أهل التأويل في تأويل ذلك. فقال بعضهم: معنى قوله: (لآتينهم من بين أيديهم)، من قبل الآخرة =(ومن خلفهم)، من قبل الدنيا =(وعن أيمانهم)، من قِبَل الحق =(وعن شمائلهم)، من قبل الباطل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 14369- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا عبد الله بن صالح قال، حدثني معاوية, عن علي, عن ابن عباس قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم)، يقول: أشككهم في آخرتهم =(ومن خلفهم)، أرغبهم في دنياهم =(وعن أيمانهم)، أشبِّه عليهم أمرَ دينهم =(وعن شمائلهم)، أشَهِّي لهم المعاصي. * * * وقد روي عن ابن عباس بهذا الإسناد في تأويل ذلك خلاف هذا التأويل, وذلك ما:- 14370- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا عبد الله بن صالح قال، حدثني معاوية, عن علي بن أبي طلحة, عن ابن عباس قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم)، يعني من الدنيا =(ومن خلفهم)، من الآخرة =(وعن أيمانهم)، من قبل حسناتهم =(وعن شمائلهم)، من قبل سيئاتهم. * * * وتحقق هذه الرواية، الأخرى التي: 14371- حدثني بها محمد بن سعد قال، حدثني أبي قال، حدثني عمي قال، حدثني أبي, عن أبيه, عن ابن عباس قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم)، قال: أما بين " أيديهم "، فمن قبلهم ، وأما " من خلفهم "، فأمر آخرتهم ، وأما " عن أيمانهم "، فمن قبل حسناتهم ، وأما " عن شمائلهم "، فمن قبل سيئاتهم. 14372- حدثنا بشر قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد, عن قتادة قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم) الآية, أتاهم من بين أيديهم فأخبرهم أنه لا بعث ولا جنة ولا نار=" ومن خلفهم "، من أمر الدنيا, فزيَّنها لهم ودعاهم إليها =" وعن أيمانهم "، من قبل حسناتهم بطَّأهم عنها =" وعن شمائلهم "، زين لهم السيئات والمعاصي، ودعاهم إليها، وأمرهم بها. أتاك يابن آدم من كل وجه, غير أنه لم يأتك من فوقك, لم يستطع أن يحول بينك وبين رحمة الله! * * * وقال آخرون: بل معنى قوله: (من بين أيديهم)، من قبل دنياهم =(ومن خلفهم)، من قبل آخرتهم. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 14373- حدثنا محمد بن بشار قال، حدثنا مؤمل قال، حدثنا سفيان, عن منصور, عن إبراهيم في قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم)، قال: (من بين أيديهم)، من قبل دنياهم =(ومن خلفهم)، من قبل آخرتهم =(وعن أيمانهم) من قبل حسناتهم =(وعن شمائلهم)، من قبل سيئاتهم. 14374- حدثنا ابن وكيع قال، حدثنا أبي, عن سفيان, عن منصور, عن الحكم: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم)، قال: (من بين أيديهم)، من دنياهم =(ومن خلفهم)، من آخرتهم =(وعن أيمانهم)، من حسناتهم =(وعن شمائلهم)، من قِبَل سيئاتهم. 14375- حدثنا سفيان قال، حدثنا جرير, عن منصور, عن الحكم: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم)، قال: من قبل الدنيا يزيِّنها لهم =(ومن خلفهم) من قبل الآخرة يبطّئهم عنها =(وعن أيمانهم)، من قبل الحق يصدّهم عنه =(وعن شمائلهم)، من قبل الباطل يرغّبهم فيه ويزينه لهم. 14376- حدثني محمد بن الحسين قال، حدثنا أحمد بن المفضل قال، حدثنا أسباط, عن السدي: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم)، أما(من بين أيديهم)، فالدنيا، أدعوهم إليها وأرغبهم فيها =(ومن خلفهم)، فمن الآخرة أشككهم فيها وأباعدها عليهم (40) =(وعن أيمانهم)، يعني الحق فأشككهم فيه =(وعن شمائلهم)، يعني الباطل أخفّفه عليهم وأرغّبهم فيه. 14377- حدثنا القاسم قال، حدثنا الحسين قال، حدثني حجاج قال، قال ابن جريج قوله: (من بين أيديهم)، من دنياهم، أرغّبهم فيها =(ومن خلفهم)، آخرتهم، أكفّرهم بها وأزهِّدهم فيها =(وعن أيمانهم)، حسناتهم أزهدهم فيها =(وعن شمائلهم)، مساوئ أعمالهم، أحسِّنها إليهم. * * * وقال آخرون: معنى ذلك: من حيث يبصرون ومن حيث لا يبصرون. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 14378- حدثني محمد بن عمرو قال، حدثنا أبو عاصم قال، حدثنا عيسى, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد قول الله: (من بين أيديهم وعن أيمانهم)، قال: حيث يبصرون =(ومن خلفهم) =(وعن شمائلهم)، حيث لا يبصرون. 14379- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا أبو حذيفة قال، حدثنا شبل, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد, مثله. 14380- حدثنا ابن وكيع وابن حميد قالا حدثنا جرير, عن منصور قال، تذاكرنا عند مجاهد قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم)، فقال مجاهد: هو كما قال، يأتيهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم = زاد ابن حميد, قال: " يأتيهم من ثَمَّ". 14381- حدثني الحارث قال، حدثنا عبد العزيز قال، حدثنا أبو سعد المدني قال، قال مجاهد، فذكر نحو حديث محمد بن عمرو, عن أبي عاصم. * * * قال أبو جعفر: وأولى هذه الأقوال عندي بالصواب، قولُ من قال: معناه: ثم لآتينهم من جميع وجوه الحقّ والباطل, فأصدّهم عن الحق، وأحسِّن لهم الباطل . وذلك أن ذلك عَقِيب قوله: لأَقْعُدَنَّ لَهُمْ صِرَاطَكَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ ، فاخبر أنه يقعد لبني آدم على الطريق الذي أمرَهم الله أن يسلكوه, وهو ما وصفنا من دين الله دينِ الحق، فيأتيهم في ذلك من كل وجوهه، من الوجه الذي أمرهم الله به, فيصدّهم عنه, وذلك " من بين أيديهم وعن أيمانهم " = ومن الوجه الذي نهاهم الله عنه, فيزيّنه لهم ويدعوهم إليه, وذلك " من خلفهم وعن شمائلهم ". * * * وقيل: ولم يقل: " من فوقهم "، لأن رحمة الله تنـزل على عباده من فوقهم. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 14382- حدثنا سعد بن عبد الله بن عبد الحكم المصري قال، حدثنا حفص بن عمر قال، حدثنا الحكم بن أبان, عن عكرمة, عن ابن عباس في قوله: (ثم لآتينهم من بين أيديهم ومن خلفهم وعن أيمانهم وعن شمائلهم)، ولم يقل: " من فوقهم ", لأن الرحمة تنـزل من فوقهم. * * * وأما قوله: (ولا تجد أكثرهم شاكرين). فإنه يقول: ولا تجد، ربِّ، أكثر بني آدم شاكرين لك نعمتَك التي أنعمت عليهم، كتكرمتك أباهم آدم بما أكرمته به, من إسجادك له ملائكتك, وتفضيلك إياه عليَّ = و " شكرهم إياه "، طاعتهم له بالإقرار بتوحيده, واتّباع أمره ونهيه. * * * وكان ابن عباس يقول في ذلك بما:- 14383- حدثني به المثنى قال، حدثنا عبد الله بن صالح قال، حدثني معاوية, عن علي بن أبي طلحة, عن ابن عباس قوله: (ولا تجد أكثرهم شاكرين)، يقول: موحِّدين. --------------------- الهوامش : (40) في المطبوعة : (( وأبعدها )) ، وأثبت ما في المخطوطة .