Tafsir at-Tabari: Jami' al-Bayan - Dar al-Tarbiyah wa al-Turath Edition

She shows you—when you enter upon seclusion, ... having felt safe from the eyes of the envious enemies— (1)

The forearms of a long-necked, brownish-white, young she-camel ... of pure color, that has never gathered (lam taqra') a fetus. (2)

He means by his saying: "has never gathered a fetus", her womb has never enclosed a child.

119- And that is because Bishr ibn Muʿādh al-ʿAqadī narrated to us, saying: Yazīd ibn Zurayʿ narrated to us, saying: Saʿīd ibn Abī ʿArūba narrated to us, from Qatāda regarding the saying of Allah the Exalted: {Indeed, upon Us is its collection and its recitation} he says: its memorization and its compilation, {So when We have recited it, then follow its recitation} follow its lawful matters and avoid its prohibited matters.

120- Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā al-Ṣanʿānī narrated to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr narrated to us, saying: Maʿmar narrated to us, from Qatāda the like of it. (3)

Thus Qatāda held that the Interpretation of "al-Qur'an" is compilation.

Abū Jaʿfar said: For both of these two views—meaning the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās and the statement of Qatāda—which we have related, there is a correct aspect in the speech of the Arabs. However, the most appropriate of their two views for the Interpretation of the statement of Allah the Exalted: {Indeed, upon Us is its collection and its recitation * So when We have recited it, then follow its recitation} is the statement of Ibn ʿAbbās.

Because Allah, exalted be His praise, commanded His Prophet in more than one verse of His Revelation to follow what He revealed to him, and He did not grant him a dispensation to refrain from following anything of His command until the time of His compiling the Qur'an for him. Likewise, His statement: {So when We have recited it, then follow its recitation} is similar to the rest of the verses of the Qur'an in which Allah commanded him to follow what He revealed to him in His Revelation.

(1) From his famous Muʿallaqa. The pronoun in his statement "she shows you" refers to Umm ʿAmr, his companion. The kāshiḥ: The enemy who conceals enmity, turning away from you with his flank. And his statement: "in privacy", meaning unawares while she is alone and unadorned.
(2) The ʿayṭal: A long-necked female camel with a handsome appearance and plumpness. The admāʾ: A white female camel with dark pupils; the best camels are the dark-eyed white ones (udm), and the Arabs say: "The Quraysh of camels are their dark-eyed white ones and reddish-brown ones," meaning they excel among camels as Quraysh excels among people. He described her as a young camel (bakr) because that makes her more beautiful, and in that youth she is softer and plumper. Of noble white color (hijān al-lawn): pure white and noble. This second verse will come in Tafsir al-Ṭabarī 29: 118 (Būlāq).
(3) Report 119, 120- It will come with its two Chains of transmission in the Tafsir of Sūrat al-Qiyāma.

Translation · EN

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