Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   ( fa-iṣbir li-ḥukmi rabbik ) ("So be patient with the judgment of your Lord") means: bear patiently that with which your Lord has tested you regarding His obligations, and the conveying of His messages, and the carrying out of what He has imposed upon you to carry out in His revelation which He has revealed to you. ( wa-lā tuṭiʿ minhum āthiman aw kafūran ) ("and do not obey any sinner or ungrateful disbeliever among them") means: and do not obey, in disobedience to Allah, any sinner among the polytheists (mushrikīn) of your people who, by his committing of sins, intends [some evil], or a kafūr — by which is meant one who denies the favors of Allah toward him and His blessings upon him, so that he is a disbeliever (kāfir) in Him and worships another besides Him.

   It has been said that by this word Abū Jahl was meant.

   * Mention of who said that:

   Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: ( wa-lā tuṭiʿ minhum āthiman aw kafūran ): he said: it was revealed concerning the enemy of Allah, Abū Jahl.

   Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, that it had reached him that Abū Jahl said: "If I see Muḥammad praying, I will put my foot on his neck," whereupon Allah revealed: ( wa-lā tuṭiʿ minhum āthiman aw kafūran ).

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His word: ( wa-lā tuṭiʿ minhum āthiman aw kafūran ): he said: the āthim is the sinful wrongdoer, and the kafūr — this is all one and the same. And it was said: ( aw kafūran ), while the meaning is: "nor an ungrateful disbeliever (wa-lā kafūran)". Al-Farrāʾ said: "aw" here stands in the place of "wa" (and); and in negation, question, and condition it has the meaning of "lā" (not). This, then, is one of its cases with negation. To this belongs the saying of the poet:

   "No grief of one bereaved of her child is like what she felt, nor the grief of a swift-hastening [she-camel] that has lost her young, nor the grief of an old man who has lost his she-camel on the day the pilgrims gathered and thereafter dispersed."

   He meant: nor the grief of an old man. He [al-Farrāʾ] said: and it may also be so in Arabic: "obey not among them anyone who sins or disbelieves," whereby the meaning of "aw" comes close to the meaning of "wa" — as you say to a man: "I will surely give you, whether you ask or remain silent," the meaning of which is: I will give you in any case.

   Show original Arabic

   ( فَاصْبِرْ لِحُكْمِ رَبِّكَ ) يقول: اصبر لما امتحنك به ربك من فرائضه، وتبليغ رسالاته، والقيام بما ألزمك القيام به في تنـزيله الذي أوحاه إليك ( وَلا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا ) يقول: ولا تطع في معصية الله من مشركي قومك آثما يريد بركوبه معاصيه، أو كفورا: يعنى جحودا لنعمه عنده، وآلائه قِبَلَه، فهو يكفر به، ويعبد غيره. وقيل: إن الذي عني بهذا القول أبو جهل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: حدثنا بشر، قال: ثنا يزيد، قال: ثنا سعيد، عن قتادة، قوله: ( وَلا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا ) قال: نـزلت في عدوّ الله أبي جهل. حدثنا ابن عبد الأعلى، قال: ثنا ابن ثور، عن معمر، عن قتادة أنه بلغه أن أبا جهل قال: لئن رأيت محمدًا يصلي لأطأنّ عنقه، فأنـزل الله: ( وَلا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا ). حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد، في قوله: ( وَلا تُطِعْ مِنْهُمْ آثِمًا أَوْ كَفُورًا ) قال: الآثِم: المذنب الظالم والكفور، هذا كله واحد. وقيل: ( أوْ كَفُورًا ) والمعنى: ولا كفورًا. قال الفراء: " أو " هاهنا بمنـزلة الواو، وفى الجحد والاستفهام والجزاء تكون بمعنى " لا " . فهذا من ذلك مع الجحد، ومنه قول الشاعر لا وَجْــدُ ثَكْــلَى كمـا وَجِـدَت وَلا وَجْــدُ عَجُــولٍ أضَلَّهــا رُبَــعُ &; 24-116 &; أوْ وَجْــدُ شَــيْخٍ أضَــلَّ ناقَتَــهُ يَــوْمَ تَــوَافَى الْحَجِـيجُ فـانْدَفَعُوا (10) أراد: ولا وجدُ شيخ، قال: وقد يكون في العربية: لا تطيعنّ منهم من أثم أو كفر، فيكون المعنى في أو قريبا من معنى الواو، كقولك للرجل: لأعطينك سألت أو سكتّ، معناه: لأعطينك على كلّ حال.