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

Volume 1 · Page 237

Translation · EN

AI translation

from his father, from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas: "Who believe in the unseen": They believed in God, His angels, His messengers, the Last Day, His Paradise, His Hellfire, and meeting Him, and they believed in life after death. All of this is unseen. (1)

The origin of "al-ghayb" (the unseen) is everything that is hidden from you. It comes from one's saying: "ghāba fulānun yaghību ghayban" (so-and-so was absent).

The scholars of interpretation have differed concerning the specific people about whom God, majestic is His praise, revealed these two verses from the beginning of this surah, and concerning their characterization and attribute by which He described them — namely their belief in the unseen and the other meanings contained in the two verses regarding their attributes besides that.

Some of them said: They are specifically the believers among the Arabs, to the exclusion of others among the believers from the People of the Scripture.

They sought evidence for the correctness of their assertion and the truth of their interpretation from the verse that follows these two verses, which is the statement of God, Mighty and Majestic: {And who believe in what has been revealed to you and what was revealed before you}. They said: For the Arabs had no scripture before the Scripture that God, Mighty and Majestic, revealed to Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, by which they worshipped through believing in it, affirming it, and acting upon it; rather, scripture belonged to the People of the Two Scriptures other than them. They said: So when God, Mighty and Majestic, recounted the report of those who believe in what was revealed to Muḥammad and what was revealed before him — after recounting the report of those who believe in the unseen — we knew that each group among them is distinct from the other, and that those who believe in the unseen are a category distinct from the category that believes in the two Scriptures, one of which was revealed to Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, and the other to those before the Messenger of God. (2)

Notes

(1) Narration 276—Ibn Kathīr mentioned it (1/73) as follows: "Abū Jaʿfar al-Rāzī said, from al-Rabīʿ ibn Anas, from Abū al-ʿĀliya...". And al-Suyūṭī mentioned it (1/25) as follows: "And Ibn Jarīr and Ibn Abī Ḥātim transmitted from Abū al-ʿĀliya...". So I fear that mentioning "from Abū al-ʿĀliya" fell out from the chain of transmission in the copies of al-Ṭabarī, due to its established presence in these two transmitters from him.\
(2) In the manuscript: "and the other of them upon those before him a Messenger of Allah", and it appears that its correct reading is: "upon those before the Messenger of Allah", as we have affirmed. As for the printed edition, it has: "upon those before him among the messengers of Allah, exalted be His mention."

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Arabic (Source)

عن أبيه، عن الربيع بن أنس،"الذين يؤمنون بالغيب": آمنوا بالله وملائكته ورُسُلِه واليومِ الآخِر، وجَنّته وناره ولقائه، وآمنوا بالحياة بعد الموت. فهذا كله غيبٌ (١) .وأصل الغيب: كُلّ ما غاب عنك من شيءٍ. وهو من قولك: غاب فُلان يغيبُ غيبًا.وقد اختلفَ أهلُ التأويل في أعيان القوم الذين أنزل الله جل ثناؤه هاتين الآيتين من أول هذه السورة فيهم، وفي نَعْتهم وصِفَتهم التي وَصفَهم بها، من إيمانهم بالغيب، وسائر المعاني التي حوتها الآيتان من صفاتهم غيرَه.فقال بعضُهم: هم مؤمنو العربِ خاصة، دون غيرهم من مؤمني أهل الكتاب.واستدَلُّوا على صحّة قولهم ذلك وحقيقة تأويلهم، بالآية التي تتلو هاتين الآيتين، وهو قول الله عز وجل: (وَالَّذِينَ يُؤْمِنُونَ بِمَا أُنْزِلَ إِلَيْكَ وَمَا أُنْزِلَ مِنْ قَبْلِكَ) . قالوا: فلم يكن للعرب كتابٌ قبل الكتاب الذي أنزله الله عز وجل على محمد ﷺ، تدينُ بتصديقِه والإقرار والعملِ به. وإنما كان الكتابُ لأهل الكتابين غيرِها. قالوا: فلما قصّ الله عز وجل نبأ الذين يؤمنون بما أنزل إلى محمد وما أنزل من قبله -بعد اقتصاصه نبأ المؤمنين بالغيب- علمنا أن كلَّ صِنفٍ منهم غيرُ الصنف الآخر، وأن المؤمنين بالغيب نوعٌ غيرُ النوع المصدِّق بالكتابين اللذين أحدهما مُنزل على محمد ﷺ، والآخرُ منهما على مَنْ قَبْلَ رسول الله (٢) .

Notes

(١) الأثر ٢٧٦- ذكره ابن كثير ١: ٧٣ هكذا: "قال أبو جعفر الرازي عن الربيع ابن أنس عن أبي العالية. . . ". وذكره السيوطي ١: ٢٥ هكذا: "وأخرج ابن جرير وابن أبي حاتم عن أبي العالية. . ". فأخشى أن يكون ذكر"عن أبي العالية" سقط من الإسناد من نسخ الطبري، لثبوته عند هذين الناقلين عنه.(٢) في المخطوطة: "والآخر منهما على من قبله رسول الله"، والظاهر أن صوابها: "على من قبل رسول الله"، كما أثبتناها. وأما المطبوعة ففيها: "على من قبله من رسل الله تعالى ذكره".