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

Volume 1 · Page 175

Translation · EN

AI translation

You have granted success to those whom You have favored among Your Prophets and the people of Your obedience, of the path and the way.

If a questioner says: "And where do you find guidance (al-hidāya) in the speech of the Arabs in the sense of granting success (al-tawfīq)?"

It is said to him: That in their speech is more abundant and evident than can be counted from the textual proofs that have come from them regarding it. Among them is the poet's saying: Do not deprive me—may God guide you—of my request, Nor let me be like one whom the journey destroyed. (1) He means by it: May God grant you success in fulfilling my need. And among it is the saying of the other: And do not rush me—may the King guide you— For indeed, for every occasion there is a speech. (2) It is known that he only meant: May God grant you success in attaining the truth in my affair.

And among it is the statement of God, Exalted be His Praise: {And God does not guide the wrongdoing people} in more than one verse of His Revelation. It is known through this that He did not mean that He does not clarify to the wrongdoers what is obligatory upon them of His duties. For how could it be permissible for that to be its meaning when He has encompassed with clarification all accountable beings among His creation? Rather, He, Mighty and Majestic, meant that He does not grant them success, nor does He expand their breasts for the truth and faith.

Some have claimed that the interpretation of His statement: {Guide us} is: "Increase us in guidance."

And this view is not free from one of two matters: either its proponent thought that the Prophet—peace and blessings of God be upon him—was commanded to ask for an increase in clarification, or an increase in help and granting success.

If he thought that he was commanded to ask his Lord for an increase in clarification, that is baseless; because God, Exalted be His Praise, does not charge a servant with any of His obligations except after clarifying it to him and establishing the proof against him thereby. Had the meaning of that been asking for clarification, he would have been commanded to supplicate his Lord to clarify to him what He obligated upon him, and such supplication would be absurd (3), because He does not impose an obligation except clarified

Notes

(1) I do not know the attribution of the verse, and I fear it might be among the verses of Wadqa al-Asadī spoken to Maʿn ibn Zāʾida. Amālī al-Murtaḍā 1:160.
(2) Al-Mufaḍḍal ibn Salama attributed it in al-Fākhir: 253, and said: "The first to say that was Ṭarafa ibn al-ʿAbd, in poetry apologizing to ʿAmr ibn Hind," but it is not in his Dīwān; see Amthāl al-Maydānī 2:125.
(3) Meaning bad speech. See what passed on p. 165, no. 1.

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Arabic (Source)

وفَّقت له مَن أنعمتَ عليه من أنبيائك وأهل طاعتك، من السبيل والمنهاج.فإن قال قائل: وأنَّى وَجدتَ الهدايةَ في كلام العرب بمعنى التَّوفيق؟قيل له: ذلك في كلامها أكثرُ وأظهر من أن يُحصى عددُ ما جاء عنهم في ذلك من الشواهد. فمن ذلك قول الشاعر:لا تَحْرِمَنِّي هَدَاكَ الله مَسْألتِي ... وَلا أكُونَنْ كمن أوْدَى به السَّفَرُ (١)يعنى به: وفَّقك الله لقضاء حاجتي. ومنه قول الآخر:ولا تُعْجِلَنِّي هدَاَك المليكُ ... فإنّ لكلِّ مَقامٍ مَقَالا (٢)فمعلوم أنه إنما أراد: وفقك الله لإصابة الحق في أمري.ومنه قول الله جل ثناؤه: (وَاللَّهُ لا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الظَّالِمِينَ) في غير آيه من تنزيله. وقد عُلم بذلك، أنه لم يَعْنِ أنه لا يُبيِّنُ للظالمين الواجبَ عليهم من فرائضه. وكيف يجوزُ أن يكونَ ذلك معناه، وقد عمَّ بالبيان جميع المكلَّفين من خلقه؟ ولكنه عَنى جلّ وعزّ أنه لا يُوفِّقهم، ولا يشرَحُ للحق والإيمان صدورَهم.وقد زعم بعضهم أن تأويل قوله: (اهدِنا) : زدْنا هدايةٍ.وليس يخلُو هذا القولُ من أحد أمرين: إما أن يكون ظنَّ قائلُه أنّ النبي ﷺ أُمِر بمسألة الزيادة في البيان، أو الزيادةَ في المعونة والتوفيق.فإن كان ظن أنه أُمِر بمسألة رَبِّه الزيادة في البيان، فذلك ما لا وجه له؛ لأن الله جلّ ثناؤه لا يكلِّف عبدًا فرضًا من فرائضه، إلا بعد تبيينه له وإقامةِ الحجة عليه به. ولو كان مَعنى ذلك معنى مسألتِه البيانَ، لكانَ قد أمِر أن يدعو ربَّه أن يبين له ما فَرض عليه، وذلك من الدعاء خَلفٌ (٣) ، لأنه لا يفرض فرضًا إلا مبيَّنًا

Notes

(١) لم أعرف نسبة البيت، وأخشى أن يكون من أبيات ودقة الأسدي يقولها لمعن بن زائدة. أمالي المرتضى ١: ١٦٠.(٢) نسبه المفضل بن سلمة في الفاخر: ٢٥٣، وقال: "أول من قال ذلك طرفة بن العبد، في شعر يعتذر فيه إلى عمرو بن هند"، وليس في ديوانه، وانظر أمثال الميداني ٢: ١٢٥.(٣) أي رديء من القول. انظر ما سلف ص ١٦٥ رقم: ١.