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

Volume 1 · Page 484

Translation · EN

AI translation

and sanctify You?'—if you should be truthful in your assertion that if I place My successor upon the earth from other than you, his offspring will disobey Me and cause corruption therein and shed blood, whereas if I place you upon it, you will obey Me and follow My command by exalting Me and sanctifying Me. For if you do not know the names of these whom I presented to you from My creation—when they are created beings, existing, whom you see and behold with your own eyes, and someone other than you knew them because I taught him—then regarding that which does not exist among the upcoming matters that have not yet come to be, and regarding that which is hidden from your eyes among the matters that do exist, you are all the more fitting not to know. So do not ask Me concerning that whereof you have no knowledge, for indeed I know best what is right for you and what is right for My creation.

And this action from God, majestic be His praise, toward His angels—who said to Him: "Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein"—by way of His admonition, majestic be His mention, of them, is similar to the statement of Him, majestic be His majesty, to His Prophet Noah, May God's blessings be upon him, when he said: {My Lord, indeed my son is of my family; and indeed, Your promise is true; and You are the most just of judges} [Sūrat Hūd: 45]—: "Do not ask Me for that whereof you have no knowledge; indeed, I advise you lest you be among the ignorant" (1). Likewise, the angels asked their Lord that they be His successors upon the earth so that they might glorify Him and sanctify Him therein, since the offspring of the one whom He informed them He was placing as a successor upon the earth would cause corruption therein and shed blood. So He, majestic be His mention, said to them: "Indeed, I know that which you do not know." Meaning thereby: Indeed, I know that one of you is the initiator of disobedience and its ender, and he is Iblīs—thereby rejecting, exalted be His mention, their statement. Then He made known to them the place of their lapse in what they said regarding that, by informing them of the deficiency of their knowledge regarding that which they were witnessing firsthand—so how much more so regarding that which they had not seen nor been informed about?—by presenting to them what He presented of His creation who existed at that time, and His saying to them: "Tell Me

Notes

(1) In the printed edition: "and You are the most just of judges, so do not ask Me," and it is an egregious error, for the verse that follows His statement: "and You are the most just of judges" is: "He said, O Noah, indeed he is not of your family; indeed, he is [one whose] work was other than righteous, so do not ask Me for that about which you have no knowledge...", and al-Tabari did not intend to quote the two verses, but rather he quoted the statement of God, Glorified is He, to His prophet when he said what he said. The correct reading is what is in the manuscript as we have established it.

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Arabic (Source)

ونقدس لك؟ إن كنتم صادقين في قيلكم أني إن جعلت خليفتي في الأرض من غيركم عَصَاني ذريته وأفسدوا فيها وسفكوا الدماء، وإن جعلتكم فيها أطعتموني، واتّبعتم أمري بالتعظيم لي والتقديس. فإنكم إن كنتم لا تعلمون أسماء هؤلاء الذين عرضتُهم عليكم من خلقي، وهم مخلوقون موجودون ترونهم وتعاينونهم، وعَلِمه غيركم بتعليمي إيّاه؛ فأنتم = بما هو غير موجود من الأمور الكائنة التي لم توجد بَعدُ، وبما هو مستتر من الأمور - التي هي موجودة - عن أعينكم = أحرى أن تكونوا غير عالمين، فلا تسألوني ما ليس لكم به علم، فإني أعلم بما يصلحكم ويصلح خلقي.وهذا الفعل من الله جل ثناؤه بملائكته - الذين قالوا له:"أتجعل فيها من يفسد فيها"، من جهة عتابه جل ذكره إياهم - نظيرُ قوله جل جلاله لنبيه نوح صلوات الله عليه إذ قال: (رَبِّ إِنَّ ابْنِي مِنْ أَهْلِي وَإِنَّ وَعْدَكَ الْحَقُّ وَأَنْتَ أَحْكَمُ الْحَاكِمِينَ) [سورة هود: ٤٥]-: لا تسألن ما ليس لك به علم إني أعظك أن تكون من الجاهلين (١) . فكذلك الملائكة سألت ربها أن تكون خُلفاءه في الأرض ليسبّحوه ويقدسوه فيها، إذ كان ذرية من أخبرهم أنه جاعلُه في الأرض خليفةً، يفسدون فيها ويسفكون الدماء، فقال لهم جل ذكره:"إني أعلم ما لا تعلمون". يعني بذلك: إني أعلم أنّ بعضكم فاتِحُ المعاصي وخاتِمُها، وهو إبليس، منكرًا بذلك تعالى ذكره قولهم. ثم عرّفهم موضع هَفوتهم في قيلهم ما قالوا من ذلك، بتعريفهم قصور علمهم عما هم له شاهدون عيانًا، - فكيف بما لم يروه ولم يُخبَروا عنه؟ - بعرَضه ما عرض عليهم من خلقه الموجودين يومئذ، وقيله لهم:"أنبئوني

Notes

(١) في المطبوعة: "وأنت أحكم الحاكمين فلا تسألن"، وهو خطأ فاحش، فإن الآية التي تلي قوله: "وأنت أحكم الحاكمين": "قال يا نوح إنه ليس من أهلك إنه عمل غير صالح فلا تسألن ما ليس لك به علم. . . "، ولم يرد الطبري أن يسوق الآيتين، بل ساق قول الله سبحانه لنبيه حين قال ما قال. والصواب ما في المخطوطة كما أثبتناه.