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

The discourse concerning the interpretation of His statement: ﴿a successor﴾

The word khalīfa is of the measure faʿīla from one's saying: so-and-so succeeded so-and-so in this matter, when he takes his place in it after him. Just as He, majestic is His praise, said: {Then We made you successors upon the earth after them, that We might see how you would act} [Sūrat Yūnus: 14], meaning by that: He replaced them with you upon the earth, making you successors after them. And from this, the supreme ruler is called a successor (caliph), because he succeeded the one before him and assumed charge in his place, thus being a replacement for him. From it one says: khalafa al-khalīfatu yakhlufu khilāfatan wa-khillīfā. (1)

And Ibn Isḥāq used to say what:

600- Ibn Ḥumayd narrated to us, saying: Salama narrated to us, from Ibn Isḥāq: "I am placing a successor upon the earth," he says: an inhabitant and developer to inhabit and develop it as a replacement, who is not from you. (2)

And what Ibn Isḥāq said regarding the meaning of successor is not its interpretation—even though Allah, majestic is His

(1) In the manuscript and the printed edition: "wa-khalīfan", and the correct reading is what we have established. In the hadith of ʿUmar: "Were it not for the khulayfā, I would have called the Call to prayer (Azan)" (with a kasra on the khāʾ and a shadda on the lām with a kasra, followed by a yāʾ, then a fāʾ with a fatḥa). They said: This and similar morphological patterns, such as rummiyy and dullīliyy, are verbal nouns indicating the meaning of abundance. ʿUmar meant: the abundance of his effort in managing the affairs of the caliphate and directing its reins.
(2) Narration: 600 - In Ibn Kathīr 1:127, and in the printed edition here, and in: 615 "khalqan laysa minkum" (a creation not of you) with a qāf, which is an error, and the correct reading is in Ibn Kathīr 1:127. His statement "khalafan": meaning a replacement for those who passed, who were the inhabitants of the earth before our father Adam, peace be upon him, as will come in the complete report: 615. His statement: "not of you," is a resumed sentence, meaning not of you, O angels. As for the manuscript, it has: "laysa khalafan minkum" (not a replacement of you), which is a pure error.

Translation · EN

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