Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The statement concerning the explanation of His saying: لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَى قَوْمِهِ فَقَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ (59) ("Indeed, We sent Nūḥ to his people, and he said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no god other than Him. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous Day.")

   Abū Jaʿfar said: Our Lord, exalted is His praise, has sworn to those who are addressed by this verse that He sent Nūḥ to his people to warn them of His violent power and to instill in them fear of His displeasure on account of their worship of one other than Him. So he said to whoever among them was an unbeliever: O my people, worship Allah, to whom worship is due, humble yourselves before Him through obedience, submit to Him in lowliness, and abandon the worship of all that is besides Him, of the associates and the gods, for you have no worshipped being worthy of your worship other than Him. Indeed, I fear for you, if you do not do that, "the punishment of a tremendous Day," that is to say: the punishment of a Day on which your affliction shall be tremendous in that it shall come upon you with the displeasure of your Lord.

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   And the reciters (qarāʾa) differed in the reading of His saying: "ghayruhu" (other than Him).

   Some of the people of Medina and Kūfa read it as: (mā lakum min ilāhin ghayrihi), with the genitive (khafḍ) of "ghayr," as a qualifying attribute (naʿt) of "ilāh" (god).

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   And a group of the people of Medina, Basra, and Kūfa read it as: (mā lakum min ilāhin ghayruhu), with the nominative (rafʿ) of "ghayr," referring it back to the case-position of "min," because its position is the nominative: for if one were to remove it (the word "min") from the construction, the construction would stand in the nominative, and one would say: "mā lakum ilāhun ghayru llāh" ("you have no god other than Allah"). For the Arabs — [on account of what has been described, namely that which is known through speech] — insert the word "min" therein or omit it, and they sometimes insert it in such speech and sometimes omit it from it, while referring that with which they have qualified, as an attribute, the noun upon which it operated, back to its literal form. So when one uses the genitive, that is on the basis of a single sentence-structure, because it is an attribute of "the god." But when one uses the nominative, that is on the basis of two sentence-structures: "mā lakum ghayruhu min ilāh" ("you have none other than Him as a god"). And this is a statement which the people of Arabic linguistics consider weak.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : لَقَدْ أَرْسَلْنَا نُوحًا إِلَى قَوْمِهِ فَقَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ إِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ (59) قال أبو جعفر: أقسم ربنا جل ثناؤه للمخاطبين بهذه الآية: أنه أرسل نوحًا إلى قومه، منذرَهم بأسَه، ومخوِّفَهم سَخَطه، على عبادتهم غيره، فقال لمن كفر منهم: يا قوم، اعبدوا الله الذي له العبادة، وذِلُّوا له بالطاعة، واخضعوا له بالاستكانة، ودعوا عبادة ما سواه من الأنداد والآلهة، فإنه ليس لكم معبودٌ يستوجب عليكم العبادةَ غيرُه، فإني أخاف عليكم إن لم تفعلوا ذلك " عذابَ يوم عظيم " ، يعني: عذابَ يوم يعظم فيه بلاؤكم بمجيئه إياكم بسخط ربِّكم. * * * وقد اختلفت القَرَأة في قراءة قوله: " غيره ". فقرأ ذلك بعض أهل المدينة والكوفة: ( مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إلَهٍ غَيْرِهِ )، بخفض " غير " على النعت لـ" إله ". * * * وقرأه جماعة من أهل المدينة والبصرة والكوفة: ( مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُه )، برفع " غير "، ردًّا لها على موضع " من "، لأن موضعها رفع، لو نـزعت من الكلام لكان الكلام رفعًا، وقيل: " ما لكم إله غيرُ الله ". (8) فالعرب [ لما وصفت من أن المعلوم بالكلام ] (9) أدخلت " من " فيه أو أخرجت، وأنها تدخلها أحيانًا في مثل هذا من الكلام، وتخرجها منه أحيانًا، تردّ ما نعتت به الاسم الذي عملت فيه على لفظه، فإذا خفضت، فعلى كلام واحد، لأنها نعت لـ" الإله ". وأما إذا رفعت، فعلى كلامين: " ما لكم غيره من إله "، وهذا قول يستضعفه أهل العربية. ------------------ الهوامش : (8) انظر معاني القرآن للفراء 1: 382 ، 383. (9) هكذا جاءت العبارة في المطبوعة والمخطوطة ، وفي الكلام سقط لا شك فيه ، لم أستطع أن أرده إلى أصله ، ولذلك وضعت هذه العبارة بين القوسين. والظاهر أن السقط طويل ، لأن أبا جعفر خالف هنا في هذا السياق ما درج عليه من ذكر أولي القراءتين بالصواب عنده.