Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   And His word: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ("they are shown to them") — the people of interpretation differed concerning whom are meant by the hāʾ and the mīm in His word: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ . Some of them said: thereby are meant the close kinsmen, that they recognize their close kinsmen, and every person recognizes his kinsman; and that is what Allah makes them see.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my paternal uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His word: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ , he said: they recognize one another and know one another, and then the one flees from the other; He says: لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ ("Every one of them, on that Day, will have a concern that occupies him entirely").

   Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ , they recognize them and know it; by Allah, surely one people will recognize another, and one set of people the other set of people.

   And others said: no, thereby are meant the believers, that they see the unbelievers.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us; and al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: Warqāʾ related to us, both on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ , the believers see the unbelievers.

   And others said: no, thereby are meant the unbelievers, who in this worldly life were followers of others in unbelief, that they recognize those whom they followed in the Fire.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ , he said: they see those who led them astray in this worldly life, in the Fire.

   And the most correct statement concerning that is the statement of him who said: the meaning of it is: no close friend asks a close friend about his condition, but they see them and recognize them, and then the one flees from the other, just as He, exalted be His praise, said: يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ * وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ * وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَبَنِيهِ * لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ ("The Day when the man flees from his brother, and his mother and his father, and his wife and his sons — every one of them, on that Day, will have a concern that occupies him entirely").

   And we have said only that this is the most correct of the interpretations, because it most accords with that to which the apparent meaning of the revelation points; and that is because His word: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ followed upon His word: وَلا يَسْأَلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًا ("and no close friend asks a close friend"). It is therefore more fitting that the hāʾ and the mīm refer to their mention than that they refer to the mention of others.

   And the reciters differed concerning the reading of His word: وَلا يَسْأَلُ ("and he does not ask"). The generality of the reciters of the cities, except Abū Jaʿfar the reciter and Shayba, read it with the fatḥa on the yāʾ; and Abū Jaʿfar and Shayba read it وَلا يُسْئَلُ with the ḍamma on the yāʾ, that is to say: no close friend is told: "Where is your close friend?", and the one asks nothing of the other.

   And the correct reading according to us is the fatḥa on the yāʾ, with the meaning: the people do not ask one another about his condition, because of the soundness of that meaning, and because of the consensus of the authoritative proof among the reciters concerning that.

   The statement concerning the interpretation of His word, the Exalted: يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ يَوَدُّ الْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِي مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍ بِبَنِيهِ (11) ("They are shown to them. The criminal would wish that he could ransom himself from the punishment of that Day with his sons (11)")

   He, exalted be His mention, says: the unbeliever would, on that Day, wish and desire that he could ransom himself from Allah's punishment of him on that Day with his sons and his wife — that is his spouse — and his brother and his close kindred group (faṣīla), and that is his clan that shelters him, that is to say which takes him in within its dwelling and in which his wife resides, because of the closeness that exists between her and him; and with all who are upon the earth among the creatures, so as thereafter thereby to save himself from Allah's punishment of him on that Day. And He, exalted be His praise, began with the mention of the sons, then the wife, then the brother, in order to make His servants know that the unbeliever, because of the tremendous tribulation that descends upon him on that Day, would ransom himself — were he to find a way to it — with the most beloved of people to him whom he had in the worldly life, and the nearest of them in kinship.

   And in accordance with what we have said concerning that, the people of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Show original Arabic

   وقوله: (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) اختلف أهل التأويل في الذين عنوا بالهاء والميم في قوله: (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) فقال بعضهم: عني بذلك الأقرباء انهم يعرّفون أقرباءهم، ويعرّف كلّ إنسان قريبه، فذلك تبصير الله إياهم. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني محمد بن سعد، قال: ثني أبي، قال: ثني عمي، قال: ثني أبي، عن أبيه، عن ابن عباس، قوله: (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) قال: يَعرف بعضهم بعضا، ويتعارفون بينهم، ثم يفرّ بعضهم من بعض، يقول: (لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ ). حدثني بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) يعرفونهم يعلمون، والله ليعرِّفَنَّ قوم قوما، وأناس أناسا. وقال آخرون: بل عني بذلك المؤمنون أنهم يبصرون الكفار. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني محمد بن عمرو، قال: ثنا أبو عاصم، قال: ثنا عيسى؛ وحدثني الحارث، قال: ثنا الحسن، قال: ثنا ورقاء جميعا، عن ابن أبي نجيح، عن مجاهد، قوله: (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) المؤمنون يبصرون الكافرين. وقال آخرون: بل عني بذلك الكفار، الذين كانوا أتباعا لآخرين في الدنيا على الكفر، أنهم يعرفون المتبوعين في النار. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال، قال ابن زيد، في قوله: (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) قال: يبصرون الذين أضلوهم في الدنيا في النار. وأولى الأقوال في ذلك بالصحة، قول من قال: معنى ذلك: ولا يسأل حميم حميما عن شأنه، ولكنهم يبصرونهم فيعرفونهم، ثم يفرّ بعضهم من بعض، كما قال جلّ ثناؤه: يَوْمَ يَفِرُّ الْمَرْءُ مِنْ أَخِيهِ * وَأُمِّهِ وَأَبِيهِ * وَصَاحِبَتِهِ وَبَنِيهِ * لِكُلِّ امْرِئٍ مِنْهُمْ يَوْمَئِذٍ شَأْنٌ يُغْنِيهِ . وإنما قلنا ذلك أولى التأويلات بالصواب، لأن ذلك أشبهها بما دل عليه ظاهر التنـزيل، وذلك أن قوله: (يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ ) تلا قوله: (وَلا يَسْأَلُ حَمِيمٌ حَمِيمًا )، فلأن تكون الهاء والميم من ذكرهم أشبه منها بأن تكون من ذكر غيرهم. واختلفت القرّاء في قراءة قوله: (وَلا يُسْأَلُ ) فقرأ ذلك عامة قرّاة الأمصار سوى أبي جعفر القارئ وشَيبة بفتح الياء؛ وقرأه أبو جعفر وشيبة ( وَلا يُسْئَلُ ) بضم الياء، يعني: لا يقال لحميم أين حميمك ؟ ولا يطلب بعضهم من بعض. والصواب من القراءة عندنا فتح الياء، بمعنى: لا يسأل الناس بعضهم بعضا عن شأنه، لصحة معنى ذلك، ولإجماع الحجة من القرّاء عليه. القول في تأويل قوله تعالى : يُبَصَّرُونَهُمْ يَوَدُّ الْمُجْرِمُ لَوْ يَفْتَدِي مِنْ عَذَابِ يَوْمِئِذٍ بِبَنِيهِ (11) يقول تعالى ذكره: يودّ الكافر يومئذ ويتمنى أنه يفتدي من عذاب الله إياه ذلك اليوم ببنيه وصاحبته، وهي زوجته، وأخيه وفصيلته، وهم عشيرته التي تؤويه، يعني التي تضمه إلى رحله، وتنـزل فيه امرأته، لقربة ما بينها وبينه، وبمن في الأرض جميعا من الخلق، ثم ينجيه ذلك من عذاب الله إياه ذلك اليوم، وبدأ جلّ ثناؤه بذكر البنين، ثم الصاحبة، ثم الأخ، إعلاما منه عباده أن الكافر من عظيم ما ينـزل به يومئذ من البلاء يفتدي نفسه، لو وجد إلى ذلك سبيل بأحب الناس إليه، كان في الدنيا، وأقربهم إليه نسبا. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: