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

Volume 1 · Page 418

Translation · EN

AI translation

and he recited the statement of Allah: {And We took from them a solemn covenant} [Sūrat al-Aḥzāb: 7]. He said: On that day. He said: And he recited the statement of Allah: {And remember the favor of Allah upon you and His covenant with which He bound you when you said, "We hear and we obey"} (1) [Sūrat al-Māʾida: 7].

Abū Jaʿfar said: For each of these views that we have reported from those from whom we narrated them, there is an orientation and a method of interpretation.

As for the aspect of interpretation of the one who interpreted His statement: {"How can you disbelieve in Allah while you were dead and He gave you life"}, as meaning that you were nothing, he inclined toward the Arabs' usage regarding something effaced or a matter obscure in mention: "This is a dead thing," and "This is a dead matter"—intending by describing it with death its obscurity and the effacement of its trace among people. Likewise, the opposite and converse of that is said: "This is a living matter," and "a living mention"—intending by describing it with that that it is prominent and known among people, as Abū Nukhayla al-Saʿdī said:

So you revived my mention for me, though I was not obscure; ... but some mentions are more prominent than others. (2)

He means by his saying, "So you revived my mention for me," that is: you elevated it and made it renowned among people until it became prominent, well-remembered, and alive, after having been obscure and dead. Likewise is the interpretation of the one who said regarding His statement: {"and you were dead"} that you were nothing—meaning that you were obscure with no mention for you, and that was your death, then He gave you life and made you living human beings who are mentioned and known; then He causes you to die by taking your souls and returning you to being like what you were before He gave you life, in terms of the effacement of your mention, the obliteration of your traces, and the obscurity of your affairs; then He brings you to life by returning your bodies to their forms and blowing the spirit into them,

Notes

(1) Report: 586 - In Ibn Kathīr 1: 122, and al-Shawkānī 1: 47, very concisely.
(2) Al-Aghānī 18: 140, and al-Muʾtalif wa-al-Mukhtalif by al-Āmidī: 193. Abū Nukhayla is his name, not his agnomen (kunya), as Abū al-Faraj said; and it is said his name was Yaʿmur ibn Ḥazn ibn Zāʾida, from Banū Saʿd ibn Zayd Manāt. The predominant form of his poetry was rajaz, and he had few long poems (qaṣīd). He was disobedient to his father, so his father disowned him. The verse is from a poem in which he praises Maslama ibn ʿAbd al-Malik.

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Arabic (Source)

وقرأ قول الله: (وَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُمْ مِيثَاقًا غَلِيظًا) [سورة الأحزاب: ٧] . قال: يومئذ. قال: وقرأ قول الله: (وَاذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ وَمِيثَاقَهُ الَّذِي وَاثَقَكُمْ بِهِ إِذْ قُلْتُمْ سَمِعْنَا وَأَطَعْنَا) (١) [سورة المائدة: ٧] .قال أبو جعفر: ولكل قول من هذه الأقوال التي حكيناها عمن روَيناها عنه، وجه ومذهبٌ من التأويل.* * *فأما وجه تأويل من تأول قوله:"كيف تكفرون بالله وكنتم أمواتًا فأحياكم"، أي لم تكونوا شيئًا، فإنه ذهب إلى نحو قول العرب للشيء الدارس والأمر الخامل الذكر: هذا شيء ميِّتٌ، وهذا أمر ميِّت - يراد بوصفه بالموت: خُمول ذكره، ودُرُوس أثره من الناس. وكذلك يقال في ضد ذلك وخلافه: هذا أمر حيّ، وذكر حيٌّ - يراد بوصفه بذلك أنه نابه مُتعالم في الناس، كما قال أبو نُخَيْلة السعديّ:فَأَحْيَيْتَ لِي ذكْري، وَمَا كُنْتُ خَامِلا ... وَلَكِنَّ بَعْضَ الذِّكْرِ أَنْبَهُ مِنْ بَعْضٍ (٢)يريد بقوله:"فأحييتَ لي ذكري"، أي: رفعته وشهرته في الناس حتى نبه فصار مذكورًا حيًّا، بعد أن كان خاملا ميتًا. فكذلك تأويل قول من قال في قوله:"وكنتم أمواتًا" لم تكونوا شيئًا، أي كنتم خُمولا لا ذكر لكم، وذلك كان موتكم فأحياكم، فجعلكم بَشرًا أحياء تُذكرون وتُعرفون، ثم يميتكم بقبض أرواحكم وإعادتكم، كالذي كنتم قبل أن يحييكم، من دروس ذكركم، وتعفِّي آثاركم، وخمول أموركم، ثم يحييكم بإعادة أجسامكم إلى هيئاتها، ونفخ الروح فيها،

Notes

(١) الأثر: ٥٨٦- في ابن كثير ١: ١٢٢، والشوكاني ١: ٤٧، مختصرًا جدًا.(٢) الأغاني ١٨: ١٤٠، والمؤتلف والمختلف للآمدي: ١٩٣، وأبو نخيلة اسمه لا كنيته، كما قال أبو الفرج، ويقال اسمه: يعمر بن حزن بن زائدة، من بني سعد بن زيد مناة، وكان الأغلب عليه الرجز، وله قصيد قليل، وكان عاقًّا بأبيه، فنفاه أبوه عن نفسه. والبيت من أبيات، يمدح بها مسلمة بن عبد الملك.