Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ("Then your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment") (89:13) — the Exalted, whose mention is glorious, says: So your Lord, O Muḥammad, caused His punishment (ʿadhāb) to descend upon them, and unleashed His vengeance upon them, on account of the corruption they wrought upon the earth and the tyranny they committed therein against Allah. And it has been said: "fa-ṣabba ʿalayhim rabbuka sawṭa ʿadhāb" ("then your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment"). In reality, what descended upon them were the visitations of punishment — whether a wind that destroyed them, or an earthquake that buried them beneath it, or a drowning that annihilated them — without any blow from a scourge or a stick. For among the most painful punishment of the people who were addressed by this Qurʾān was scourging with whips (al-jald bi-l-siyāṭ). Therefore it became customary for this people, when they reported about the severity of the punishment with which a man among them was punished, to say: "So-and-so was even struck with the whips," until this became a proverb, which they then applied to anyone who was punished with any severe form of punishment. And they said: "He poured upon him a scourge of punishment (ṣabba ʿalayhi sawṭa ʿadhāb)."

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

   * 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 words: سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ("a scourge of punishment") he said: that with which they were punished.

   Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said, concerning His words: فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ("Then your Lord poured upon them a scourge of punishment") he said: The punishment with which He punished them He called: a scourge of punishment.

   Show original Arabic

   ( فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ) يقول تعالى ذكره: فأنـزل بهم يا محمد ربك عذابه، وأحلّ بهم نقمته، بما أفسدوا في البلاد، وطغَوْا على الله فيها. وقيل: فصبّ عليهم ربك سَوط عذاب. وإنما كانت نِقَما تنـزل بهم، إما ريحا تُدَمرهم، وإما رَجفا يُدَمدم عليهم، وإما غَرَقا يُهلكهم من غير ضرب بسوط ولا عصا؛ لأنه كان من أليم عذاب القوم الذين خوطبوا بهذا القرآن، الجلد بالسياط، فكثر استعمال القوم الخبر عن شدّة العذاب الذي يعذّب به الرجل منهم أن يقولوا: ضُرب فلان حتى بالسياط، إلى أن صار ذلك مثلا فاستعملوه في كلّ معذَّب بنوع من العذاب شديد، وقالوا: صَبّ عليه سَوْط عذاب. وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * 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: ( سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ) قال: ما عذّبوا به. حدثني يونس، قال: أخبرنا ابن وهب، قال: قال ابن زيد في قوله: ( فَصَبَّ عَلَيْهِمْ رَبُّكَ سَوْطَ عَذَابٍ ) قال: العذاب الذي عذّبهم به سماه: سوط عذاب.