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

Volume 1 · Page 344

Translation · EN

AI translation

When they engage their peers... and the combat was with what is in the perfume baskets.

It is said from it: māṣaʿahu miṣāʿan. It is as though Mujāhid only said: "the driving (masʿ) of an angel", since the clouds do not fight the angel; rather, it is thunder that contends with him, so he made it a verbal noun from maṣaʿahu yamṣaʿuhu masʿan.

We have already mentioned regarding the meaning of "the thunderbolt" (al-ṣāʿiqa) what Shahr ibn Ḥawshab said previously.

As for the interpretation of the verse, the commentators have differed regarding it:

Several statements have been narrated from Ibn ʿAbbās regarding that. One of them is what—

451- Muḥammad ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, he said: Salamah narrated to us, he said: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Abī Muḥammad, the freed slave of Zayd ibn Thābit, from ʿIkrimah, or from Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbās: "{Or like a rainstorm from the sky, within which is darkness, thunder, and lightning. They put their fingers in their ears against the thunderclaps in dread of death}": meaning, they are in the darkness of the disbelief they are in and the dread of being killed—upon what they are on of opposition and being intimidated by you—similar to what was described of the one who is in the darkness of the rainstorm, who put his fingers in his ears against the thunderclaps in dread of death. "{The lightning almost snatches away their sight}"—that is, due to the intensity of the light of the truth—"{whenever it flashes for them, they walk therein, and when darkness covers them, they stand still}"—meaning, they recognize the truth and speak it, so by their speaking it they are upright, but when they relapse from it into disbelief, they stand bewildered.

And another is what—

452- Mūsā ibn Hārūn narrated to me, he said: ʿAmr narrated to us, he said: Asbāṭ narrated to us, from al-Suddī in a report he mentioned, from Abū Mālik, and from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās—and from Murrah, from Ibn Masʿūd, and from some of the Companions of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him: "{Or like a rainstorm from the sky, within which is darkness, thunder, and lightning}" up to "{Indeed, God is over all things competent}". As for the rainstorm, it is rain. There were two men among the hypocrites from the people of Medina who fled from the Messenger of God, peace and blessings of God be upon him, to the polytheists. This rain mentioned by God struck them, in which there was severe thunder, thunderclaps, and lightning. Whenever the thunderclaps flashed for them, they put their fingers in their ears out of fear that the thunderclaps would enter their ears and kill them. Whenever the lightning flashed, they walked in its light, and when it did not flash, they could not see and stood in their place, not walking, and they began saying: "If only morning would come so that we could go to Muḥammad and place our hands in his hand." When morning came, they went to him and embraced Islam, placed their hands in his hand, and their Islam became good. So God struck the situation of these two outgoing hypocrites as a parable for the hypocrites who were in Medina. Whenever the hypocrites attended the gathering of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, they would put their fingers in their ears out of fear of the speech of the Prophet, peace and blessings of God be upon him, lest something be revealed concerning them or they be mentioned with something so they would be killed, just as those two outgoing hypocrites used to put their fingers in their ears. "{Whenever it flashes for them, they walk therein}"—so when their wealth increased, boys were born to them, and they obtained spoils or a victory, they walked in it and said: "Indeed, the religion of Muḥammad, peace and blessings of God be upon him, is a religion of truth," and they remained upright upon it, just as those two hypocrites walked whenever the lightning flashed for them; "{and when darkness covers them, they stand still}"—so when their wealth perished, daughters were born to them, and affliction befell them, they said: "This is because of the religion of Muḥammad," and they apostatized as disbelievers, just as those two hypocrites stood still when the lightning darkened over them.

Notes

(1) His Dīwān: 15. al-Ṭabarī claimed, as you see, that he meant young maidens playing with their jewelry and striking with it. But he mistook the meaning. Al-Aʿshā intended something more profound. Namely, al-aqrān is the plural of qirn: which is one who equals you in strength and courage, and he meant men by it. "Yunāzilna" (they contend with): he meant the teasing and engagement from women seeking to overcome the minds and resolves of men. And al-jūn is the plural of jūna: which is a small, round basket covered with leather in which perfume is kept. It is also pronounced "juʾna and juʾan" with a hamza. Al-Aʿshā mentioned the ancient battle waged between men and women, where women take ornamentation and perfume as weapons, confronting men seeking triumph and victory, and a temptation that strikes down intellects and resolves, so men fall captive in their hands.
(2) Report 451: al-Suyūṭī mentioned it in full in al-Durr al-Manthūr 1:32–33, and attributed it also to Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn Abī Ḥātim. In it and in the manuscript: "of dissension and instilling fear of you." Ibn Kathīr cited part of it 1:100.
(3) In the printed edition: "As for the rainstorm and the rain", which is an error.
(4) In the manuscript originals: "mashaw" (they walked), and we corrected it from al-Durr al-Manthūr and al-Shawkānī.
(5) In the manuscript originals: "qāmā makānahumā" without a wāw, and in one manuscript copy: "faqāmā makānahumā". All other manuscript originals and what was quoted in al-Durr al-Manthūr and al-Shawkānī concurred on omitting the fāʾ, but the sentence does not stand straight; thus we rendered it "wa-qāmā" (and they stood), which is the correct phrasing.
(6) In al-Durr al-Manthūr: "and their children, and they struck...", and in al-Shawkānī: "and their children, and they struck..."
(7) In the manuscript: "Whenever it shines for them, they walk, and whenever darkness covers them, they stand." In al-Durr al-Manthūr: "They both walk whenever lightning shines for them, and whenever darkness covers them, they stand." In al-Shawkānī: "They both walk whenever lightning shines for them, and whenever darkness covers them, they stand." The best of them is what is in the manuscript and what is in the printed edition.
(8) In al-Durr al-Manthūr and al-Shawkānī: "When their wealth and children perish and affliction strikes them."
(9) Hadith 452: It was quoted in al-Durr al-Manthūr 1:32 and al-Shawkānī 1:36–37, and al-Ṭabarī's statement concerning this hadith and its chain of transmission will come on p. 354: "And I do not know it to be Sahih (Authentic), since I am doubtful regarding its chain of transmission." See what my brother Sayyid Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir wrote regarding this chain of transmission previously in report no. 168. Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir—may Allah forgive him—says: Abū Jaʿfar, may Allah have mercy on him, was rightly doubtful of its chain of transmission. For in this chain of transmission there is much leniency, by way of gathering scattered explanations from the Companions into a single context linked by these chains of transmission, as we explained earlier. Thus, if it concerns explaining the meaning of a verse, accepting it is easy and straightforward, as it represents an opinion or opinions of some Companions regarding the verse's meaning, and there is no harm in that. However, if the report rises to the status of a hadith—by reporting a specific event or events that occurred during the time of the Messenger of Allah, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, regarding occasions of revelation for certain verses, or the like, which is appended to the Marfu' hadith in wording or ruling—then accepting this chain of transmission (the chain of transmission of al-Suddī's Tafsir) becomes a matter of scrutiny and doubt. For it is a narration whose source is not specifically known: which of these said this? And which of them expressed it with the wording that was brought? Yes, its apparent form is that it is from the Companions: either Ibn ʿAbbās, or Ibn Masʿūd, or "a group of the Companions of the Prophet, Peace and blessings of God be upon him"—so someone might say: the reference of the narration returns to the Companions, and whether the narrating Companion is known or his name is left obscure, that does not exclude it from being a narration of the Companions, and the obscurity of a Companion causes no harm? But the context of these detailed, lengthened narrations in Tafsir and regarding events related to occasions of revelation—such as the narration here in this place—along with the turn away of the imams of hadith, who compiled authentic narrations and acceptable narrations below Sahih, from transmitting this narration and its like, and the turn away of historians of Biography (Sīra) from narrating it as well—all of that necessitates doubt regarding the continuity of such a narration, and in asserting its attribution to the Companions. For perhaps it is among what was interpolated into the narration during its recitation. Caution in attributing a Marfu' hadith and what falls under its ruling is obligatory.

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