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

and a dark night (1), driven by thunder, with intense, bright lightning flashing across its edges (2), frequently flashing (3), the glare of whose lightning almost takes away the sight and snatches it away due to the intensity of its illumination and the light of its rays, and from which thunderbolts descend at times, almost leaving souls departing from the severity of their terrors.

Thus, the rainstorm is a parable for the outward manifestation that the hypocrites display with their tongues of affirmation and confirmation, and the darknesses within it are a parable for the darknesses of what they harbor inside of doubt, denial, and disease of the heart. As for the thunder and thunderbolts, they are a parable (4) for the dread they feel regarding God's threat to them on the tongue of His Messenger, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, in the verses of His Book—whether in the immediate present or in the future—that it might descend upon them, despite their doubt about that: Will it occur or not? And does it have reality or is it a lie and falsehood? Thus, out of their dread that it might be true, they guard against it by affirming with their tongues what Muhammad, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, brought, out of fear for themselves from destruction and the descent of punishments (5). And that is the interpretation of His statement, Exalted be His praise: {"They put their fingers in their ears against the thunderbolts in dread of death"}, meaning thereby: they guard against God's threat which He sent down in His Book on the tongue of His Messenger, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, through what they display with their tongues of outward affirmation, just as a frightened person guards against the sounds of thunderbolts by covering his ears and placing his fingers in them, out of dread for himself from them.

And we have already mentioned the report narrated from Ibn Masʿūd and Ibn ʿAbbās that they used to say: "Whenever the hypocrites attended the gathering of the Messenger of God, Peace and blessings of God be upon him, they would put their fingers

(1) In the printed edition: "and a dark night", which is a clear error.
(2) In the printed and manuscript editions: "yaḥdhūhā" with a dotted dhāl, which is an error. Rather, it is from the ḥudāʾ of the driver with his camels: which is his singing to them and his urging them on while he drives them. He made the sound of the thunder a driving song for the clouds. And istaṭāra al-barq: the lightning flashed, split the clouds, and spread across the sides of the clouds.
(3) In the manuscript: "khuṭuwātihi" is unpointed, which is a distortion. It is from their saying khaṭara bi-sayfihi aw sawṭihi yakhṭiru khaṭarānan: when he raises it once and lowers it another time; he compared the flashes of lightning to a whip that gleams once and hides another time.
(4) His statement "mathalu" is the predicate of an omitted subject, so the context of the sentence is as you see: As for the thunder and thunderbolts, they are an example for the apprehension they are in...
(5) Al-naqimāt: plural of niqma like kalimāt and kalima, which are punishments.

Translation · EN

Notes