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

of disbelief and misguidance—which they took by abandoning what they abandoned of guidance, with the guidance they abandoned being the price they made compensation for the misguidance they took.

As for those who interpreted the meaning of His statement "purchased" as "preferred," when they found that Allah, exalted be His praise, described the disbelievers in another place by attributing to them their preference of disbelief over guidance, saying: {And as for Thamūd, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance} [Sūrat Fuṣṣilat: 17], they turned His statement {These are they who have purchased error at the price of guidance} to that meaning. And they said: The particle bi- may enter in place of ʿalā, and ʿalā in place of bi-, just as it is said, "I passed bi- So-and-so" and "I passed ʿalā So-and-so," with the same meaning; and as in the statement of Allah, exalted be His praise: {And among the People of the Scripture is he who, if you entrust him with a qinṭār, he will render it to you} [Sūrat Āl ʿImrān: 75], meaning ʿalā qinṭār. So the interpretation of the verse according to their meaning is: These are they who chose misguidance over guidance. And I consider that they directed the meaning of the statement of Allah, exalted be His praise, "purchased" to the meaning of "chose," because the Arabs say: "I purchased (ishtaraytu) such a thing over such a thing" and "I chose it (istaraytuhu)"—meaning: I chose it over it.

And of istirāʾ is the saying of Aʿshā Banī Thaʿlaba (1):

For I often bring out the chosen, full-bosomed maiden From her bower, and spread the game of chance (2)

He means by al-mustarāh: the chosen one.

And Dhū al-Rumma said regarding ishtirāʾ in the sense of choice:

He drives away the outcast ones from a chosen group, as if they were Massive dunes beneath dark, heavy rain-clouds (3).

He means by al-sharāh: the chosen ones.

(1) In the printed edition, it is "al-ishtirāʾ" with the dotted shīn, which is an error; the correct reading is with the undotted sīn.
(2) His Dīwān: 35, Ṭabaqāt Faḥūl al-Shuʿarāʾ: 36, and al-Lisān (s-r-ā). In the printed edition, it is "al-mushtarāt" in both places, and what is correct is what we have established. The "kāʿib" is a maiden whose breasts have become prominent; meaning she is a naive, pampered, secluded maiden. The "khidr" of a young girl is her curtain that is stretched out for her to remain behind upon reaching puberty. And "ashāʿa al-māla bayna al-qawm" means he distributed wealth among them. By "qimār" he means playing Maysir (gambling), and he intended the winner's share in Maysir from the camel meat, which he distributes among the people out of his generosity.
(3) His Dīwān: 62. The pronoun in his statement "yadhubbu" refers to the male camel. And "yadhubbu" means he defends and drives away. "Al-qaṣāyā" is the plural of "qaṣiyya", which refers to the lowest quality camels that grew weak and lagged behind. "Jamāhīr" is the plural of "jumhūr", which is a sand dune elevated above its surroundings, whose sand has accumulated and compacted. "Al-mudjināt" comes from their saying "a rain-bearing cloud (saḥāba dājina and mudjina)", which is a dense cloud covering the sky with heavy rain. "Al-hawāḍib" are those whose rain is continuous and drops are large. He likened the camels, in their noble build and massive size, to compact sand dunes in the view of the eye from afar.

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