Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The discourse on the explanation of His statement: أَلَهُمْ أَرْجُلٌ يَمْشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَيْدٍ يَبْطِشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ آذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا قُلِ ادْعُوا شُرَكَاءَكُمْ ثُمَّ كِيدُونِ فَلا تُنْظِرُونِ (195)

   (Do they have feet with which they walk? Or do they have hands with which they strike? Or do they have eyes with which they see? Or do they have ears with which they hear? Say: Call upon your associate-partners, then plot a stratagem against me and grant me no respite. (195))

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose mention is exalted, says to those who worshipped the idols instead of Him, and makes known to them the ignorance in which they persist: Do these idols of yours, O people, have "feet with which they walk," so that they may walk along with you and ahead of you in your needs, and move about thereby for the sake of your interests — "or do they have hands with which they strike," so that they may ward off from you and aid you thereby when someone intends evil and harm against you — "or do they have eyes with which they see," so that they may make known to you what they have beheld and seen of that which is hidden from you and which you do not see — "or do they have ears with which they hear," so that they may inform you of what they have heard apart from you, of that which you have not heard?

   He, exalted be His praise, says: If your gods whom you worship possess none of these faculties which I have mentioned — while that which is venerated among things is venerated only on account of the benefits one hopes for from it, benefits which, according to you, are obtained by way of some of these aforementioned means — then what is the ground for your worship of your idols which you worship, while they are devoid of all these things by which one attains to the acquisition of benefit and the warding off of harm?

   And His statement: قل ادعوا شركاءكم ثم كيدون (Say: Call upon your associate-partners, then plot a stratagem against me), [say, O Muḥammad, to these, the polytheists (mushrikīn) among the idolaters: Call upon your associate-partners whom you have made associate-partners of Allah in worship — "then plot a stratagem against me" (45)] — you and they (46) — فلا تنظرون (and grant me no respite), He says: do not defer the stratagem and the scheming (47), but hasten therewith. He, exalted be His praise, thereby informs him that they will not harm him, and that He has protected him against them; and He makes known to the unbelievers the incapacity of their idols to resist anyone who treats with evil those who hold them as patrons.

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   The footnotes:

   (45) These words between brackets I have derived from the context of the verse and the explanation, and it is clear that they were dropped by the copyist, and that the sentence is not coherent without them, or without something taking their place.

   (46) In the printed edition: "you and they (feminine plural)"; I have adopted what is in the manuscript. See further the explanation of "al-kayd" (the stratagem) earlier, p. 288, note 2, and the references there.

   (47) See the explanation of "al-inẓār" (granting respite) earlier, 12: 331, note 1, and the references there.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : أَلَهُمْ أَرْجُلٌ يَمْشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَيْدٍ يَبْطِشُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ أَعْيُنٌ يُبْصِرُونَ بِهَا أَمْ لَهُمْ آذَانٌ يَسْمَعُونَ بِهَا قُلِ ادْعُوا شُرَكَاءَكُمْ ثُمَّ كِيدُونِ فَلا تُنْظِرُونِ (195) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره لهؤلاء الذين عبدوا الأصنام من دونه، معرِّفَهم جهل ما هم عليه مقيمون: ألأصنامكم هذه ، أيها القوم =(أرجل يمشون بها)، فيسعون معكم ولكم في حوائجكم، ويتصرفون بها في منافعكم =(أم لهم أيد يبطشون بها)، فيدفعون عنكم وينصرونكم بها عند قصد من يقصدكم بشرّ ومكروهٍ =(أم لهم أعين يبصرون بها)، فيعرفونكم ما عاينوا وأبصروا مما تغيبون عنه فلا ترونه =(أم لهم آذان يسمعون بها)، فيخبروكم بما سمعوا دونكم مما لم تسمعوه؟ يقول جل ثناؤه: فإن كانت آلهتكم التي تعبدونها ليس فيها شيء من هذه الآلات التي ذكرتُها, والمعظَّم من الأشياء إنما يعظَّم لما يرجى منه من المنافع التي توصل إليه بعض هذه المعاني عندكم, فما وجه عبادتكم أصنامكم التي تعبدونها, وهي خالية من كل هذه الأشياء التي بها يوصل إلى اجتلاب النفع ودفع الضر؟ وقوله: (قل ادعوا شركاءكم ثم كيدون)، [ قل، يا محمد، لهؤلاء المشركين من عبدة الأوثان: ادعوا شركاءكم الذين جعلتموهم لله شركاء في العبادة =(ثم كيدون)، (45) ] أنتم وهي (46) (فلا تنظرون)، يقول: فلا تؤخرون بالكيد والمكر, (47) ولكن عجِّلوا بذلك. يُعْلِمه جل ثناؤه بذلك أنهم لن يضروه, وأنه قد عصمه منهم, ويُعَرِّف الكفرة به عجز أوثانهم عن نصرة من بغى أولياءهم بسوء. ------------------------ الهوامش: (45) هذه العبارة التي بين الأقواس ، استظهرتها من سياق الآية والتفسير ، وظاهر أنها قد سقطت من الناسخ ، وأن الكلام بغيرها ، أو بغير ما يقوم ما مقامها ، لا يستقيم . (46) في المطبوعة : (( أنتم وهن )) ، وأثبت ما في المخطوطة . ثم انظر تفسير (( الكيد )) فيما سلف ص 288 ، تعليق : 2 ، والمراجع هناك . (47) انظر تفسير (( الإنظار )) فيما سلف 12 : 331 ، تعليق : 1 ، والمراجع هناك .