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

Volume 1 · Page 405

Translation · EN

AI translation

The discourse regarding the interpretation of His statement, Exalted be His praise: ﴿He causes many to stray thereby, and He guides many thereby.﴾

Abū Jaʿfar said: He means by His statement, Mighty and Majestic, "He causes many to stray thereby": Allah causes many of His creation to stray thereby. The pronoun "it" in "thereby" refers to the parable. This is a new statement initiated by Allah, Exalted be His praise, and the meaning of the words is: Allah causes many of the people of hypocrisy and disbelief to stray by means of the parable that He sets forth—

567- Just as Mūsā ibn Hārūn narrated to me, saying: ʿAmr ibn Ḥammād narrated to us, saying: Asbāṭ narrated to us, from al-Suddī, in a report he mentioned, from Abū Mālik, and from Abū Ṣāliḥ, from Ibn ʿAbbās—and from Murra, from Ibn Masʿūd, and from some people among the Companions of the Prophet (Peace and blessings of God be upon him): "He causes many to stray thereby," meaning the hypocrites; "and He guides many thereby," meaning the believers (1).

—So He adds astrayness to their astrayness because of their denial of what they knew with certainty to be true regarding the parable that Allah set forth for what He set it forth for, and that it corresponds to what He set it forth for. That, then, is Allah causing them to stray thereby. "And He guides thereby"—meaning by the parable—many of the people of faith and affirmation, so He adds guidance to their guidance and faith to their faith, because of their affirmation of what they knew with certainty to be true, that it corresponds to what Allah set forth as a parable for it, and their acknowledgment of it. That is guidance from Allah to them thereby.

Some of them claimed that this is a report about the hypocrites, as if they said: "What did Allah intend by a parable that not everyone understands, causing this one to stray thereby and guiding that one thereby?" Then the speech and report from Allah resumed, so Allah said: "{And He causes none to stray thereby except the transgressors.}" And in what is in Sūrat al-Muddatthir—of the statement of Allah: "and that those in whose hearts is disease and the disbelievers may say, 'What did Allah intend by this as a parable?' Thus does Allah cause to stray whom He wills and guide whom He wills"—there is that which indicates that in Sūrat al-Baqara it is likewise an independent statement—I mean His statement: "He causes many to stray thereby, and He guides many thereby."

Notes

(1) Report 567: In Ibn Kathīr (1/119), al-Durr al-Manthūr (1/42), and al-Shawkānī (1/45), and it is complete and connected in them, and its completion is the narration that follows it: 568. However, Ibn Kathīr made an error, connecting this report with al-Ṭabarī's words that follow it, as if all of it were from the Exegesis (Tafsir) of Ibn ʿAbbās and Ibn Masʿūd, which is a pure error. For al-Ṭabarī's statement after "so He increases these in straying..." is part of the completion of his statement before this: "that Allah misguides through the parable He strikes many of the people of Hypocrisy and Disbelief."

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Arabic (Source)

القول في تأويل قوله جل ثناؤه: ﴿يُضِلُّ بِهِ كَثِيرًا وَيَهْدِي بِهِ كَثِيرًا﴾قال أبو جعفر: يعني بقوله جل وعز:"يضلّ به كثيرًا"، يضلّ الله به كثيرًا من خلقه. والهاء في"به" من ذكر المثل. وهذا خبر من الله جل ثناؤه مبتدَأٌ، ومعنى الكلام: أن الله يُضلّ بالمثل الذي يضربه كثيرًا من أهل النفاق والكفر:-٥٦٧- كما حدثني موسى بن هارون، قال: حدثنا عمرو بن حماد، قال: حدثنا أسباط، عن السدّي، في خبر ذكره، عن أبي مالك، وعن أبي صالح، عن ابن عباس - وعن مُرَّة، عن ابن مسعود، وعن ناس من أصحاب النبي ﷺ:"يضلّ به كثيرًا" يعني المنافقين،"ويهدي به كثيرًا"، يعني المؤمنين (١) .- فيزيد هؤلاء ضلالا إلى ضلالهم، لتكذيبهم بما قد علموه حقًّا يقينًا من المثل الذي ضربه الله لما ضرَبه له، وأنه لما ضرَبه له موافق. فذلك إضْلال الله إياهم به. و"يهدي به"، يعني بالمثل، كثيرًا من أهل الإيمان والتصديق، فيزيدهم هدى إلى هُداهم وإيمانًا إلى إيمانهم. لتصديقهم بما قد علموه حقًّا يقينًا أنه موافق ما ضرَبه الله له مثلا وإقرارُهم به. وذلك هدايةٌ من الله لهم به.وقد زعم بعضهم أنّ ذلك خبرٌ عن المنافقين، كأنهم قالوا: ماذا أراد الله بمثل لا يعرفه كل أحد، يضلّ به هذا ويهدي به هذا. ثم استؤنف الكلام والخبر عن الله، فقال الله:"وما يضل به إلا الفاسقين". وفيما في سورة المدثر - من قول الله:"وليقولَ الذينَ في قلوبهمْ مَرَضٌ والكافرونَ ماذا أرَاد الله بهذا مثلا. كذلك يُضلّ اللهُ مَن يشاءُ ويهدي من يشاء" - ما ينبئ عن أنه في سورة البقرة كذلك، مبتدأٌ - أعني قوله:"يضلّ به كثيرًا ويهدي به كثيرًا".* * *

Notes

(١) الخبر: ٥٦٧- في ابن كثير ١: ١١٩، والدر المنثور ١: ٤٢، والشوكاني ١: ٤٥، وهو فيها تام متصل، وتمامه الأثر الذي يليه: ٥٦٨. ولكن ابن كثير أخطأ، فوصل هذا الخير بكلام الطبري الذي يليه، كأنه كله من تفسير ابن عباس وابن مسعود، وهو خطأ محض. فقول الطبري بعد"فيزيد هؤلاء ضلالا. . " هو من تمام قوله قبل هذا"أن الله يضل بالمثل الذي يضربه كثيرا من أهل النفاق والكفر".