Tabari (1 passage)

1. Full Dutch translation of Tabari's text

   The explanation of His word: أَلَمْ يَأْتِهِمْ نَبَأُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ وَثَمُودَ وَقَوْمِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَأَصْحَابِ مَدْيَنَ وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَاتِ أَتَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ (70) (Has there not come to them the tidings of those who were before them: the people of Noah, and ʿĀd and Thamūd, and the people of Abraham, and the inhabitants of Madyan, and the overturned cities? Their messengers came to them with the clear proofs. Allah did them no wrong, but they wronged themselves. (70))

   Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — may His remembrance be praised — says: Has there not come to these hypocrites (munāfiqīn) who conceal disbelief (kufr) toward Allah and who forbid believing in Him and in His Messenger, "the tidings of those who were before them," that is to say: the report of the nations who lived before them, when they disobeyed Our messengers and opposed Our command — what then struck them of Our chastisement?

   Then He declared — exalted be His praise — who those nations were, of whom He said to these hypocrites "has their tidings not come to them." He said: "the people of Noah." And it is for this reason that the word "the people" (al-qawm) stands in the genitive, because it is an appositive substitution (badal) for "those who" (alladhīna), and "those who" stands in the position of the genitive.

   * * *

   The meaning of the words is: has there not come to these hypocrites the tidings of the people of Noah and of what I did to them, when they denied My messenger Noah and opposed My command? Did I not drown them by the flood (al-ṭūfān)?

   "And ʿĀd," that is to say: and the tidings of ʿĀd, when they disobeyed My messenger Hūd — did I not destroy them with a violent, freezing windstorm? And the tidings of Thamūd, when they disobeyed My messenger Ṣāliḥ — did I not destroy them with the earthquake, so that I left them lifeless in their dwelling-places? And the tidings of the people of Abraham, when they disobeyed him and rejected the truth which he brought to them from Allah — did I not withdraw favor from them and destroy their king Nimrod? And the tidings of the inhabitants of Madyan, the son of Abraham — did I not destroy them with the chastisement of the Day of the Shadow, when they denied My messenger Shuʿayb? And the tidings of those whose land was overturned upon them, so that its top became its bottom, when they disobeyed My messenger Lot and denied the truth which he brought to them from Me? The Exalted — may His remembrance be praised — says: Do these hypocrites, who mock Allah, His signs, and His Messenger, then imagine themselves safe from the same course being taken with them, in the retribution against them and in hastening disgrace and punishment upon them in this world, as was taken with their predecessors among the nations, and that there should befall them, on account of their denial of My messenger Muḥammad ﷺ, the like of what befell those others in their denial of Our messengers, when they came to them with the clear proofs?

   * * *

   And in accordance with what we have said about this, the scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) have spoken.

   * Mention of who said that:

   16936 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda: "and the overturned cities (al-muʾtafikāt)," he said: that is the people of Lot; their land was overturned upon them, so that its top became its bottom.

   16937 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: "and the overturned cities," he said: they are the people of Lot.

   * * *

   If someone were to ask: If by "the overturned cities" the people of Lot are intended, how then is it said "al-muʾtafikāt" in the plural, and not in the singular?

   To this it is answered: they were three cities, and that is why it was put in the plural, and for that reason formed in the plural with the [feminine plural] tāʾ, in accordance with the word of Allah: وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَةَ أَهْوَى [Surah An-Najm: 53] (And the overturned city He cast down).

   If someone were to ask: And how is it said "their messengers came to them with the clear proofs," when in fact only one was sent to them?

   To this it is answered: the meaning of it is: to every city of the overturned cities there came a messenger who called them to Allah, so that the envoys of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, whom he sent to them to call them to Allah on behalf of his message, are called "messengers to them" — just as the Arabs called a group of people who named themselves after Abū Fudayk al-Khārijī "al-Fudaykāt," while "Abū Fudayk" is a single person; but when his followers were named after him — and he was their leader — they were so designated and named after their leader. Such too is His word: "their messengers came to them with the clear proofs."

   * * *

   It is also possible that one says that the meaning of it is: to the people of Noah, and ʿĀd, and Thamūd, and the rest of the nations whom Allah has mentioned in this ayah, there came their messengers from Allah with the clear proofs.

   * * *

   And His word "Allah did them no wrong," the Exalted — exalted be His praise — says: Allah destroyed these nations, of whom He mentioned that He destroyed them, only on account of their crimes and the wrong they did to themselves, and because they deserved from Allah the tremendous chastisement — not as a wrong from Allah toward them, and not because He — exalted be His praise — imposed a chastisement upon anyone who did not deserve it. For Allah is Wise; there is no deficiency in His governance and no error in His decree. Rather, the people whom He destroyed wronged themselves through disobedience to Allah and through denial of His messengers, until they provoked their Lord against themselves, so that the word of chastisement became rightfully due against them and they were chastised.

   Show original Arabic

   القول في تأويل قوله : أَلَمْ يَأْتِهِمْ نَبَأُ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍ وَعَادٍ وَثَمُودَ وَقَوْمِ إِبْرَاهِيمَ وَأَصْحَابِ مَدْيَنَ وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَاتِ أَتَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيَظْلِمَهُمْ وَلَكِنْ كَانُوا أَنْفُسَهُمْ يَظْلِمُونَ (70) قال أبو جعفر: يقول تعالى ذكره: ألم يأت هؤلاء المنافقين الذين يُسِرُّون الكفرَ بالله, وينهون عن الإيمان به وبرسوله =(نبأ الذين من قبلهم)، يقول: خبر الأمم الذين كانوا من قبلهم، (11) حين عصوا رسلنا وخالفوا أمرنا، ماذا حلّ بهم من عقوبتنا؟ ثم بين جل ثناؤه مَنْ أولئك الأمم التي قال لهؤلاء المنافقين ألم يأتهم نَبَأهُم, فقال: (قوم نوح)، ولذلك خفض " القوم "، لأنه ترجم بهن عن " الذين ", و " الذين " في موضع خفض. * * * ومعنى الكلام: ألم يأت هؤلاء المنافقين خبر قوم نوح وصنيعي بهم, إذ كذبوا رسولي نوحًا، وخالفوا أمري؟ ألم أغرقهم بالطوفان؟ =(وعاد)، يقول: وخبر عاد، إذ عصوا رسولي هودًا, ألم أهلكهم بريح صرصر عاتية ؟ = وخبر ثمود، إذ عصوا رسولي صالحًا, ألم أهلكهم بالرجفة, فأتركهم بأفنيتهم خمودًا؟ = وخبر قوم إبراهيم، إذ عصوه وردُّوا عليه ما جاءهم به من عند الله من الحق, ألم أسلبهم النعمة، وأهلك ملكهم نمرود؟ = وخبر أصحابِ مَدْين بن إبراهيم, ألم أهلكهم بعذاب يوم الظلة إذ كذبوا رسولي شعيبًا؟ = وخبر المنقلبة بهم أرضُهم, فصار أعلاها أسفلها, إذ عصوا رسولي لوطًا، (12) وكذبوا ما جاءهم به من عندي من الحق؟ يقول تعالى ذكره: أفأمن هؤلاء المنافقون الذين يستهزءون بالله وبآياته ورسوله, أن يُسْلك بهم في الانتقام منهم، وتعجيل الخزي والنكال لهم في الدنيا، سبيلُ أسلافهم من الأمم, ويحلّ بهم بتكذيبهم رسولي محمدًا صلى الله عليه وسلم ما حلّ بهم في تكذيبهم رُسلنا, إذ أتتهم بالبينات. * * * وبنحو الذي قلنا في ذلك قال أهل التأويل. * ذكر من قال ذلك: 16936- حدثنا محمد بن عبد الأعلى قال، حدثنا محمد بن ثور, عن معمر, عن قتادة: (والمؤتفكات)، قال: قوم لوط، انقلبت بهم أرضهم, فجعل عاليها سافلها. 16937- حدثنا بشر قال، حدثنا يزيد قال، حدثنا سعيد, عن قتادة قوله: (والمؤتفكات)، قال: هم قوم لوط. * * * فإن قال قائل: فإن كان عني بـ " المؤتفكات " قوم لوط, فكيف قيل: " المؤتفكات ", فجمعت ولم توحّد؟ قيل: إنها كانت قريات ثلاثًا, فجمعت لذلك, ولذلك جمعت بالتاء، على قول الله: وَالْمُؤْتَفِكَةَ أَهْوَى ،[سورة النجم: 53]. (13) فإن قال: وكيف قيل: أتتهم رسلهم بالبينات, وإنما كان المرسل إليهم واحدًا؟ قيل: معنى ذلك: أتى كل قرية من المؤتفكات رسولٌ يدعوهم إلى الله, فتكون رُسل رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم الذين بعثهم إليهم للدعاء إلى الله عن رسالته، رسلا إليهم, كما قالت العرب لقوم نسبوا إلى أبي فديك الخارجي: " الفُدَيْكات "، و " أبو فديك "، واحدٌ, ولكن أصحابه لما نسبوا إليه وهو رئيسهم، دعوا بذلك، ونسبوا إلى رئيسهم. فكذلك قوله: (أتتهم رسلهم بالبينات). * * * وقد يحتمل أن يقال معنى ذلك: أتت قوم نوح وعاد وثمود وسائر الأمم الذين ذكرهم الله في هذه الآية، رسلهم من الله بالبينات. * * * وقوله: (فما كان الله ليظلمهم)، يقول جل ثناؤه: فما أهلك الله هذه الأمم التي ذكر أنه أهلكها إلا بإجرامها وظلمها أنفسها، واستحقاقها من الله عظيم العقاب, لا ظلمًا من الله لهم، ولا وضعًا منه جل ثناؤه عقوبةً في غير من هو لها أهلٌ، لأن الله حكيم لا خلل في تدبيره، ولا خطأ في تقديره, ولكن القوم الذين أهلكهم ظلموا أنفسهم بمعصية الله وتكذيبهم رسله، حتى أسخطوا عليهم ربهم، فحقت عليهم كلمة العذاب فعذِّبوا. ------------------------- الهوامش : (11) انظر تفسير "النبأ" فيما سلف ص : 331 ، تعليق : 2 ، والمراجع هناك. (12) انظر تفسير "الائتفاك" فيما سلف ص: 208، تعليق : 1 ، والمراجع هناك. (13) انظر معاني القرآن للفراء 1 : 446.