Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The statement concerning the explanation of His saying: أَوَلا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُمْ يُفْتَنُونَ فِي كُلِّ عَامٍ مَرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لا يَتُوبُونَ وَلا هُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ (Do they not then see that they are tried once or twice every year? Yet they show no repentance, nor do they take heed) (9:126).

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The reciters differed over the reading of His saying: (Do they not then see).

   Most of the reciters of the [great] cities read it: (أَوَلا يَرَوْنَ) (Do they not then see), with the yāʾ, in the sense of: do these, in whose hearts is the disease of hypocrisy (nifāq), not then see?

   And Ḥamza read it: (أَوَلا تَرَوْنَ) (Do you not then see), with the tāʾ, in the sense of: do you not then see, O believers, that they are being tried?

   Abū Jaʿfar said: And the correct view according to us regarding the reading thereof is the yāʾ, by way of a rebuking censure from Allah against them, because of the consensus of the [decisive] proof of the reciters of the cities upon it, and because of the soundness of its meaning.

   The explanation of the saying is thus: Do these hypocrites (munāfiqūn) not then see that Allah tries them once or twice every year — in the sense that in some years He tries them once, and in some twice — (yet they show no repentance), He says: and after that, despite the trial that befalls them from Allah and the testing that overtakes them, they do not turn away from their hypocrisy, nor do they show repentance over their unbelief (kufr), nor do they take heed of the proofs of Allah which they behold and the signs which they see with their own eyes, that they might thereby be warned — rather they persist in their hypocrisy?

   The people of interpretation differed over the meaning of the "trial" (fitna) which Allah mentions in this place, with which these hypocrites are tried.

   Some of them said: that is Allah's trial of them by means of drought and hardship.

   * Mention of those who said that:

   17490 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, Ibn Numayr related to us, on the authority of Warqāʾ, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (Do they not then see that they are tried once or twice every year), he said: by year of drought and famine.

   17491 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, he said: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, he said: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: (they are tried), he said: they are tried — (once or twice every year), he said: by year of drought and famine.

   17492 — Al-Muthannā related to me, he said: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid: (Do they not then see that they are tried once or twice every year), he said: they are tried with punishment, once or twice every year.

   17493 — Al-Qāsim related to us, he said: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, he said: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His saying: (they are tried once or twice every year), he said: by year of drought and famine.

   And others said: no, its meaning is: that they are tried by means of the military expedition (ghazw) and the jihād.

   * Mention of those who said that:

   17494 — Bishr related to us, he said: Yazīd related to us, he said: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His saying: (Do they not then see that they are tried once or twice every year), he said: they are tried by the military expedition in the way of Allah, once or twice every year.

   17495 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, something similar.

   And others said: no, its meaning is: that they are tried by the lies which the polytheists (mushrikūn) spread about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions, so that those in whose hearts is a disease are thereby brought into trial.

   * Mention of those who said that:

   17496 — Aḥmad ibn Isḥāq related to us, he said: Abū Aḥmad related to us, he said: Sharīk related to us, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa: (Do they not then see that they are tried once or twice every year), he said: we used to hear once or twice every year a lie, by which great multitudes of people were led astray.

   17497 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, he said: My father related to us, on the authority of Sharīk, on the authority of Jābir, on the authority of Abū al-Ḍuḥā, on the authority of Ḥudhayfa, he said: there was for them once or twice every year a lie.

   And the most fitting view thereof in terms of soundness is to say: that Allah caused His believing servants to marvel at these hypocrites, and rebuked the hypocrites within themselves on account of the slightness of their receptiveness to admonition and the poorness of their attentiveness to the admonitions of Allah by which He admonishes them. And it is possible that those admonitions are the heavy trials which He sends down upon them, of famine and drought; and it is possible that it is what He shows them of His aid to His Messenger against those who do not believe in Him, and of His providing for the triumph of His word above their word; and it is possible that it is what becomes manifest to the Muslims of their hypocrisy and the malice of their hidden inner selves, through their inclining toward what they hear of the rumors of the polytheists about the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and his companions. And there is no report that necessitates the correctness of one portion of this above another, by a path to which one is obliged to submit. And there is no statement concerning it that more closely accords with the correct view than submitting to the apparent meaning of Allah's saying, namely: do they not then see that they are tried once or twice every year with something that ought to bring them to repentance, and that after that they nevertheless are not restrained and do not take heed?

   ---------------------- Footnotes:

   (9) See the explanation of "the trial" (fitna) in what preceded, p. 286, note 3, and the references therein.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : أَوَلا يَرَوْنَ أَنَّهُمْ يُفْتَنُونَ فِي كُلِّ عَامٍ مَرَّةً أَوْ مَرَّتَيْنِ ثُمَّ لا يَتُوبُونَ وَلا هُمْ يَذَّكَّرُونَ (126) قال أبو جعفر: اختلفت القرأة في قراءه قوله: (أولا يرون) . فقرأته عامة قرأة الأمصار: ( أو لا يرون ) ، بالياء, بمعنى: أو لا يرى هؤلاء الذين في قلوبهم مرضُ النفاق؟ وقرأ ذلك حمزة: (أَوَ لا تَرَوْنَ)، بالتاء, بمعنى: أو لا ترون أنتم، أيها المؤمنون، أنهم يفتنون؟ قال أبو جعفر: والصواب عندنا من القراءة في ذلك، الياءُ, على وجه التوبيخ من الله لهم, لإجماع الحجة من قرأة الأمصار عليه، وصحة معناه. * * * فتأويل الكلام إذًا: أو لا يرى هؤلاء المنافقون أنَّ الله يختبرهم في كل عام مرة أو مرتين, بمعنى أنه يختبرهم في بعض الأعوام مرة, وفي بعضها مرتين (9) =(ثم لا يتوبون) ، يقول: ثم هم مع البلاء الذي يحلّ بهم من الله، والاختبار الذي يعرض لهم، لا ينيبون من نفاقهم, ولا يتوبون من كفرهم, ولا هم يتذكرون بما يرون من حجج الله ويعاينون من آياته, فيتعظوا بها، ولكنهم مصرُّون على نفاقهم؟ واختلف أهل التأويل في معنى " الفتنة " التي ذكر الله في هذا الموضع أن هؤلاء المنافقين يفتنون بها. فقال بعضهم: ذلك اختبارُ الله إياهم بالقحط والشدة. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 17490- حدثنا ابن وكيع, حدثنا ابن نمير, عن ورقاء, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد: ( أولا يرون أنهم يفتنون في كل عام مرة أو مرتين) ، قال: بالسَّنة والجوع. 17491- حدثني محمد بن عمرو قال، حدثنا أبو عاصم قال، حدثنا عيسى, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد في قوله: (يفتنون) ، قال: يبتلون =(في كل عام مرة أو مرتين) ، قال: بالسنة والجوع. 17492- حدثني المثنى قال، حدثنا أبو حذيفة، حدثنا شبل, عن ابن أبي نجيح, عن مجاهد: ( أولا يرون أنهم يفتنون في كل عام مرة أو مرتين) ، قال: يبتلون بالعذاب في كل عام مرة أو مرتين. 17493- حدثنا القاسم قال، حدثنا الحسين قال، حدثني حجاج, عن ابن جريج, عن مجاهد قوله: (يفتنون في كل عام مرة أو مرتين) ، قال: بالسنة والجوع. * * * وقال آخرون: بل معناه: أنهم يختبرون بالغزو والجهاد. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 17494- حدثنا بشر قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد, عن قتادة قوله: ( أوَلا يرون أنهم يفتنون في كل عام مرة أو مرتين) ، قال: يبتلون بالغزو في سبيل الله في كل عام مرة أو مرتين. 17495- حدثنا محمد بن عبد الأعلى قال، حدثنا محمد بن ثور, عن معمر, عن الحسن, مثله. * * * وقال آخرون: بل معناه: أنهم يختبرون بما يُشيع المشركون من الأكاذيب على رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وأصحابه, فيفتتن بذلك الذين في قلوبهم مرض. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 17496- حدثنا أحمد بن إسحاق قال، حدثنا أبو أحمد قال، حدثنا شريك, عن جابر, عن أبي الضحى, عن حذيفة: ( أوَلا يرون أنهم يفتنون في كل عام مرة أو مرتين) ، قال: كنا نسمع في كل عام كذبة أو كذبتين، فيضل بها فئامٌ من الناس كثير. 17497- حدثنا ابن وكيع قال، حدثنا أبي, عن شريك, عن جابر, عن أبي الضحى, عن حذيفة, قال: كان لهم في كل عام كذبة أو كذبتان. * * * وأولى الأقوال في ذلك بالصحة أن يقال: إن الله عجَّب عبادَه المؤمنين من هؤلاء المنافقين, ووبَّخ المنافقين في أنفسهم بقلّة تذكرهم، وسوء تنبههم لمواعظ الله التي يعظهم بها. وجائزٌ أن تكون تلك المواعظُ الشدائدَ التي ينـزلها بهم من الجوع والقحط = وجائزٌ أن تكون ما يريهم من نُصرة رسوله على أهل الكفر به، ويرزقه من إظهار كلمته على كلمتهم = وجائزٌ أن تكون ما يظهر للمسلمين من نفاقهم وخبث سرائرهم، بركونهم إلى ما يسمعون من أراجيف المشركين برسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم وأصحابه = ولا خبر يوجب صحةَ بعض ذلك دون بعض، من الوجه الذي يجب التسليم له. ولا قول في ذلك أولى بالصواب من التسليم لظاهر قول الله وهو: أو لا يرون أنهم يختبرون في كل عام مرة أو مرتين، بما يكون زاجرًا لهم، ثم لا ينـزجرون ولا يتعظون؟ ---------------------- الهوامش : (9) انظر تفسير " الفتنة " فيما سلف ص : 286 ، تعليق : 3 ، والمراجع هناك .