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

Volume 1 · Page 360

Translation · EN

AI translation

The commentary on the interpretation of His statement: ﴿that you may become righteous (21)﴾

Abū Jaʿfar said: The interpretation of that is: that you may protect yourselves, through your worship of your Lord who created you, your obedience to Him in what He commanded you and prohibited you from, and your devoting worship exclusively to Him (1), so that you may ward off His wrath and anger from falling upon you, and become among the God-fearing with whom their Lord is pleased.

Mujāhid used to say regarding the interpretation of His statement 'that you may become righteous': 'that you may obey.'

474- Ibn Wakīʿ narrated to us, he said: My father narrated to me, on the authority of Sufyān, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, regarding His statement: 'that you may become righteous,' he said: that you may obey (2).

Abū Jaʿfar said: What I think Mujāhid intended by this statement of his is: that you may fear your Lord through your obedience to Him and your desisting from your error.

Abū Jaʿfar said: If someone were to say to us: How could He—Exalted be His praise—say 'that you may become righteous'? Was He not knowledgeable of what their affair would become if they worshipped Him and obeyed Him, such that He said to them: 'Perhaps if you do that, you will become righteous', expressing the report concerning the outcome of their worshipping Him in the manner of doubt?

It is said to him: That is not upon the meaning you imagined; rather, its meaning is: Worship your Lord who created you and those before you, in order that you may fear Him through His obedience, His Monotheism (Tawhid), and devoting Lordship and worship exclusively to Him (3), just as the poet said:

And you said to us: Stop the wars, that we may ... stop! And you bound every covenant with us (4) So when we stopped the war, your promises became ... like a flash of mirage shining in the desert (5)

Notes

(1) In the printed edition: "to Him through worship," which is an error.
(2) Tradition 474: In al-Durr al-Manthūr (1/34).
(3) Al-Ṭabarī means that the Arabs use laʿalla (perhaps/so that) stripped of doubt, in the sense of the lām of purpose (kai), as Ibn al-Shajarī stated in his Amālī (1/51).
(4) I do not know their author, and Ibn al-Shajarī narrated them citing al-Ṭabarī—according to what I deem most probable—in his Amālī (1/51).
(5) The narration of Ibn al-Shajarī is "in al-malā." And al-falā is the plural of falāh: which is flat land with nothing in it, and a vast desert. And al-malā: desert and wide open land—so both are identical in meaning.

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Arabic (Source)

القول في تأويل قوله: ﴿لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ (٢١) ﴾قال أبو جعفر: وتأويل ذلك: لعلكم تتقون بعبادتكم ربَّكم الذي خلقكم، وطاعتِكم إياه فيما أمركم به ونهاكم عنه، وإفرادكُم له العبادة (١) لتتقوا سَخَطه وغضَبه أن يَحلّ عليكم، وتكونُوا من المتقين الذين رضي عنهم ربهم.وكان مجاهدٌ يقولُ في تأويل قوله:"لعلكم تتقون": تُطيعون.٤٧٤- حدثنا ابن وكيع، قال: حدثني أبي، عن سفيان، عن ابن أبي نَجيح، عن مجاهد، في قوله:"لعلكم تتقون"، قال: لعلكم تطيعون (٢) .قال أبو جعفر: والذي أظن أنّ مجاهدًا أراد بقوله هذا: لعلكم أنْ تَتقوا رَبَّكم بطاعتكم إياه، وإقلاعِكم عن ضَلالتكم.قال أبو جعفر: فإن قال لنا قائل: فكيف قال جل ثناؤه:"لعلكم تتقون"؟ أو لم يكن عالمًا بما يصيرُ إليه أمرُهم إذا هم عبدوه وأطاعُوه، حتى قال لهم: لعلكم إذا فعلتم ذلك أن تتقوا، فأخرج الخبر عن عاقبة عبادتهم إياه مخرج الشكّ؟قيل له: ذلك على غير المعنى الذي توهَّمتَ، وإنما معنى ذلك: اعبدُوا ربكم الذي خلقكم والذين من قبلكم، لتتقوه بطاعته وتوحيده وإفراده بالربوبية والعبادة (٣) ، كما قال الشاعر:وَقُلْتُمْ لَنَا كُفُّوا الْحُرُوبَ، لَعَلَّنَا ... نَكُفُّ! وَوَثَّقْتُمْ لَنَا كُلَّ مَوْثِقِ (٤) فَلَمَّا كَفَفْنَا الْحَرْبَ كَانَتْ عُهُودُكُمْ ... كَلَمْحِ سَرَابٍ فِي الْفَلا مُتَأَلِّقِ (٥)

Notes

(١) في المطبوعة: "له بالعبادة" وهو خطأ.(٢) الأثر ٤٧٤- في الدر المنثور ١: ٣٤.(٣) يريد الطبري أن العرب تستعمل"لعل" مجردة من الشك، بمعنى لام كي، كما قال ابن الشجري في أماليه ١: ٥١.(٤) لم أعرف قائلهما، ورواهما ابن الشجري نقلا عن الطبري، فيما أرجح، في أماليه ١: ٥١.(٥) رواية ابن الشجري"في الملا". والفلا جمع فلاة: وهي الأرض المستوية ليس فيها شيء والصحراء الواسعة. والملا: الصحراء والمتسع من الأرض - فهما سواء في المعنى.