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

Volume 1 · Page 390

Translation · EN

AI translation

the invalidity of the statement of the one who claimed that the meaning of His statement: {they say, "This is what we were provided with before"} is merely a statement by the people of Paradise in their comparing some fruits of Paradise to others (1). That proof of the invalidity of that view is the same proof of the invalidity of the view of whoever opposes our view in interpreting His statement: {and they are given thereof things in resemblance}, because God—may His praise be glorified—only informed about the reason why the people said: {This is what we were provided with before} by His statement: {and they are given thereof things in resemblance}.

Whoever denies that (2) and claims that it is impermissible for anything in Paradise to be a counterpart to anything in this world in any way whatsoever shall be asked; it will be said to him: Is it permissible for the names of what is in Paradise—of its fruits, foods, and drinks—to be counterparts to the names of what is in this world?

If he denies that, he contradicts the text of the Book of God, because God—may His praise be glorified—only made known to His servants in this world what He has in Paradise by the names by which what is in this world is called.

And if he says: That is permissible, rather it is indeed so.

It is said: Then why do you deny that the colors of what is in it are counterparts to the colors of what is in this world (3), in the sense of whiteness, redness, yellowness, and all other types of colors, even if they diverge and excel through superior appearance and beauty, such that what is in Paradise possesses brightness, beauty, and splendor of appearance unlike what is in this world, just as that was permissible regarding the names despite the named entities differing in excellence in their physical bodies? Then the argument is reversed against him in that regard, and he will not say anything concerning one of them without being bound to the same regarding the other.

And Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī used to say regarding that what:

537- Ibn Bashshār narrated to me, he said: Ibn Abī ʿAdī, ʿAbd al-Wahhāb, and Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar narrated to us, from ʿAwf, from Qasāma, from al-Ashʿarī, who said: When God brought Adam out of Paradise, He supplied him with fruits of Paradise and taught him the craft of everything; so these fruits of yours are from the fruits of Paradise, except that these spoil and those do not spoil (4).

Notes

(1) See what preceded on p. 387 and thereafter.
(2) In the printed edition: "and he asked whoever rejected...", which is an obvious error.
(3) In the printed edition: "counterparts of colors."
(4) Hadith 537: This chain of transmission is authentic (sahih). Even though it is explicitly Mawquf, it is effectively Marfu', because it is news of the unseen that cannot be known through opinion or analogy. Al-Ashʿarī is Abū Mūsā, and he was not among those who reported from ancient books. ʿAwf is Ibn Abī Jamīla al-Aʿrābī, and he is a trustworthy, reliable narrator whose traditions were recorded by the authors of the Six Books. Qasāma (with a fatḥa on the qāf and a light sīn) is Ibn Zuhayr al-Māzinī al-Tamīmī al-Baṣrī, a trustworthy early Successor (Tabi'i); rather, some mentioned him among the Companions and were mistaken. He has a biography in al-Iṣāba (5/276), Ibn Saʿd (7/1/110) where he said: "He was trustworthy, God willing, and died during the governorship of al-Ḥajjāj over Iraq," and Ibn Abī Ḥātim (3/2/147), who reported his attestation of reliability from Ibn Maʿīn.
The hadith was mentioned by Ibn Kathīr in al-Tārīkh (1/80), from the narration of ʿAbd al-Razzāq, from Maʿmar, from ʿAwf, with this chain of transmission. Ibn al-Qayyim mentioned it in Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ (1/273; p. 125 of the second edition, Maḥmūd Rabīʿ edition, 1357 AH) from the narration of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, from ʿUqba ibn Mukram al-ʿAmmī the Hadith master, from Ribʿī ibn Ibrāhīm ibn ʿUlayya, from ʿAwf, with this chain of transmission, explicitly Marfu': "He said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of God be upon him, said..." Likewise, al-Haythamī mentioned it in Majmaʿ al-Zawāʾid (8/197–198) "from Abū Mūsā, raising it," and said: "Al-Bazzār and al-Ṭabarānī narrated it, and its narrators are trustworthy." Ibn al-Qayyim also mentioned it in Ḥādī al-Arwāḥ before that (pp. 30–31), from the narration of Hawdha ibn Khalīfa from ʿAwf with this chain of transmission, as explicitly Mawquf. As for the narration of Hawdha ibn Khalīfa, al-Ḥākim narrated it in al-Mustadrak (2/543), but its chain of transmission in my view contains an error, and it appears to be a mistake by scribes. For what is in it reads: "Hawdha ibn Khalīfa narrated to us: ʿAwf narrated to us, from Qasāma ibn Zuhayr, from Abū Bakr ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī, who said: 'When God brought forth Adam...''" etc. Then al-Ḥākim said: "It has an authentic chain of transmission, though they did not record it," and al-Dhahabī agreed with him! However, it is impossible—as far as I know and believe—for al-Ḥākim to declare this chain authentic and then for al-Dhahabī to agree with him if it were in this form, because Abū Bakr ibn Abī Mūsā al-Ashʿarī is a trustworthy Successor (Tabi'i); if the chain were like this, the hadith would be Mursal and unusable as evidence, whether he raised it or said it from himself. Thus, it appears that the ancient copyists of made a mistake by adding "Abū Bakr ibn," and the correct wording is: "from Abū Mūsā al-Ashʿarī," as made clear from Ibn al-Qayyim's citation of Hawdha's narration, and as made clear from the other narrations we cited. Praise be to Allah for granting success.

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