Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His statement: مِنْ تَسْنِيمٍ * عَيْنًا يَشْرَبُ بِهَا الْمُقَرَّبُونَ ("of Tasnīm — a spring from which those brought near drink"), he said: it has reached us that it is a spring which flows out from beneath the Throne, and it is the admixture of this wine — that is to say: the admixture of the pure drink (al-raḥīq).

   It was related to me on the authority of al-Ḥusayn, he said: I heard Abū Muʿādh say: ʿUbayd related to us, saying: I heard al-Ḍaḥḥāk say concerning His statement: مِنْ تَسْنِيمٍ ("of Tasnīm"): a drink named Tasnīm, and it is among the noblest of drinks. The interpretation of the words is therefore: and the admixture of the pure drink is from a spring which is borne up from above over them (tusannam), so that it pours down over them; يَشْرَبُ بِهَا الْمُقَرَّبُونَ ("from which those brought near drink") — those brought near to Allah drink it unmixed, while it is mixed for the rest of the dwellers of the Garden.

   The Arabic philologists differed concerning the manner in which His statement عَيْنًا ("a spring") stands in naṣb (the accusative). Some of the grammarians of Baṣra said: if you wish, you regard its naṣb as governed by [an implied] "they are given to drink from a spring" (yusqawna ʿaynan); and if you wish, you regard it as an expression of praise (madḥ), detached from the beginning of the sentence, as though you say: "I mean: a spring" (aʿnī ʿaynan).

   Some of the grammarians of Kūfa said: the naṣb of "ʿayn" has two possible grounds. The first: that one intends "min tasnīmin ʿaynun," for when you provide it [tasnīm] with tanwīn, you put [ʿayn] in naṣb, as He has said: أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ * يَتِيمًا ("or the feeding, on a day of hunger, of an orphan") and as He has said: أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ الأَرْضَ كِفَاتًا * أَحْيَاءً ("Have We not made the earth a gathering-place — for the living?"). The other possibility: that one intends "from water that is raised up into a spring" (min māʾin sunnima ʿaynan), as you say: "he raised up a spring from which is drunk" (rafaʿa ʿaynan yushrabu bihā). He said: and if Tasnīm is not a proper name for the water, then "ʿayn" is indefinite (nakira) and Tasnīm is definite (maʿrifa); and if it is a proper name for the water, then "ʿayn" is indefinite (9), and it has therefore come into naṣb. Another of the Baṣrīs said: مِنْ تَسْنِيمٍ ("of Tasnīm") is definite (maʿrifa); then He said: عَيْنًا ("a spring"), and it came indefinite (nakira), whereupon I put it in naṣb as a qualifier (adjectival specification) of it. Yet another said: it was put in naṣb in the sense of "from water that is raised up into a spring" (min māʾin yatasannamu ʿaynan).

   The correct view concerning this, according to us, is that Tasnīm is a definite proper name (maʿrifa) and "ʿayn" is indefinite (nakira), and that it is for this reason that it has been put in naṣb, since it is a qualifier of it.

   We have said that this is the correct view because of what we have already adduced earlier from the transmission of the interpreters (ahl al-taʾwīl): that Tasnīm is the spring itself. By this it became known that "ʿayn," since it stands in naṣb and is indefinite, [is a qualifier], and that Tasnīm is definite.

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   Footnotes:

   (9) The wording of al-Farrāʾ reads: and if Tasnīm is not a proper name for the water, then "ʿayn" is indefinite and Tasnīm is definite; if it is a proper name for the water, then "ʿayn" and so forth.

   Show original Arabic

   حدثني يونس. قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد، في قوله: ( مِنْ تَسْنِيمٍ * عَيْنًا يَشْرَبُ بِهَا الْمُقَرَّبُونَ ) قال: بلغنا أنها عين تخرج من تحت العرش، وهي مزاج هذه الخمر، يعني مزاج الرحيق. حُدثت عن الحسين، قال: سمعت أبا معاذ يقول: ثنا عبيد، قال: سمعت الضحاك يقول في قوله: ( مِنْ تَسْنِيمٍ ) شراب اسمه تسنيم وهو من أشرف الشراب. فتأويل الكلام: ومزاج الرحيق من عين تُسَنَّم عليهم من فوقهم، فتنصبّ عليهم ( يَشْرَبُ بِهَا الْمُقَرَّبُونَ ) من الله صرفا، وتمزج لأهل الجنة. واختلفت أهل العربية في وجه نصب قوله: ( عَيْنًا ) قال بعض نحويي البصرة: إن شئت جعلت نصبه على يسقون عينا، وإن شئت جعلته مدحا، فيقطع من أوّل الكلام، فكأنك تقول: أعني: عينا. وقال بعض نحويي الكوفة: نصب العين على وجهين: أحدهما: أن ينوي من تسنيم عَيْن، فإذا نوَّنت نصبت، كما قال: أَوْ إِطْعَامٌ فِي يَوْمٍ ذِي مَسْغَبَةٍ * يَتِيمًا وكما قال: أَلَمْ نَجْعَلِ الأَرْضَ كِفَاتًا * أَحْيَاءً . والوجه الآخر: أن ينوي من ماء سُنِّم عينًا، كقولك: رفع عينا يشرب بها. قال: وإن لم يكن التسنيم اسما للماء فالعين نكرة، والتسنيم معرفة، وإن كان اسمًا للماء فالعين نكرة (9) فخرجت نصبا. وقال آخر من البصريين: ( مِنْ تَسْنِيمٍ ) معرفة، ثم قال: ( عَيْنا ) فجاءت نكرة، فنصبتها صفة لها. وقال آخر نُصبت بمعنى: من ماء يَتَسَنَّم عينا. والصواب من القول في ذلك عندنا أن التسنيم اسم معرفة والعين نكرة، فنصبت لذلك إذ كانت صفة له. وإنما قلنا: ذلك هو الصواب لما قد قدّمنا من الرواية عن أهل التأويل، أن التسنيم هو العين، فكان معلومًا بذلك أن العين إذ كانت منصوبة وهي نكرة، وأن التسنيم معرفة. ------------------------ الهوامش: (9) عبارة الفراء : وإن لم يكن التسنيم اسما للماء ، فالعين نكرة والتسنيم معرفة إن كان اسما للماء والعين إلخ .