Zād al-Maʿād - Ibn al-Qayyim - (1/55)

Zād al-MaʿādIbn al-Qayyim

of Isaac, and after Isaac, of Jacob.” (1) [Hūd: 70–71] It is therefore impossible for Him to give them both glad tidings that a son would be born to him and then command him to slaughter that son. There is no doubt that Jacob is included in the glad tidings: the wording encompasses Isaac and Jacob in a single announcement (2). This is the plain meaning of the passage and its context.

If it is said: Were matters as you have described, “Jacob” would be in the genitive case, coordinated with Isaac, so the reading would be “Isaac, Jacob (71)” (3) [Hūd: 71], meaning: “and Jacob after Isaac.” “Jacob,” that is, “and of Jacob after Isaac” (4).

The reply is: The nominative case does not prevent Jacob from being included in the glad tidings, for glad tidings are a particular kind of statement: the first truthful report of something joyful. His words, “Isaac, Jacob,” constitute a sentence satisfying these conditions and thus amount to glad tidings. Indeed, glad tidings are, in essence, a declarative sentence. Since glad tidings are a statement, this sentence occupies an accusative position as speech quoted after a verb of saying, as though the meaning were: “And We said to her: After Isaac will come Jacob.” When someone says, “I gave so-and-so glad tidings of his brother’s arrival, and his baggage and attendants are following behind him,” he can only be understood as giving glad tidings of the two matters

(1) In manuscript jīm, “Ya‘qūb” (Jacob) is vocalized with a damma, indicating the nominative, according to Abū ‘Amr’s reading. The following objection and its answer are based on this reading. (2) This is the reading in the manuscript sources except mīm-bā’ and nūn. Someone erased the tā’ in manuscripts sād and ‘ayn. In manuscript qāf, a later hand wrote “lafz wāhid” (a single wording), meaning: “fa-tanāwala al-bishārata” (thus it encompassed the glad tidings). The word “wāhida” (single) is the predicate of the genitive complement “al-bishāra” (the glad tidings). (3) This is the reading of Hafs, Hamza, and Ibn ‘Āmir. Scholars differed over the grammatical analysis of “Ya‘qūb” (Jacob): either genitive through coordination, or accusative through coordination with the syntactic position of “bi-Ishāq” (of Isaac), or governed by an implicit verb indicated by the context. Abū ‘Alī preferred this last analysis. See al-Hujja li-l-qurrā’ al-sab‘a (The Argument for the Seven Quran Readers), 4:364–367. (4) This is the sequence in manuscript sād. Manuscript jīm omits “Ya‘qūb, ay wa-bi-Ya‘qūb … Ishāq” (Jacob, that is, and of Jacob … Isaac). The other manuscripts omit “ay wa-Ya‘qūba min warā’ Ishāq Ya‘qūba” (that is, and Jacob after Isaac, Jacob).

بِإِسْحَاقَ وَمِنْ وَرَاءِ إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ﴾ (١) [هود: ٧٠ - ٧١] فمحال أن يبشِّرهما بأنه يكون له ولد ثم يأمره بذبحه. ولا ريب أن يعقوب داخل في البشارة، فتناولُ البشارة لإسحاق ويعقوب في اللفظ واحدةٌ (٢)، هذا ظاهر الكلام وسياقه. فإن قيل: لو كان الأمر كما ذكرتموه لكان «يعقوب» مجرورًا عطفًا على إسحاق، فكانت القراءة ﴿إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ (٧١)﴾ (٣) [هود: ٧١]، أي ويعقوبَ من وراء إسحاق. «يعقوبَ»، أي وبيعقوب من وراء إسحاق (٤). قيل: لا يمنع الرفعُ من أن يكون يعقوب مبشَّرًا به، لأن البشارة قول مخصوص، وهي أول خبر سارٍّ صادق. وقوله: ﴿إِسْحَاقَ يَعْقُوبَ﴾ جملة متضمنة لهذه القيود، فتكون بشارةً، بل حقيقة البشارة هي الجملة الخبرية. ولما كانت البشارة قولًا كان موضع هذه الجملة نصبًا على الحكاية بالقول، كأن المعنى: وقلنا لها: من وراء إسحاق يعقوبُ. والقائل إذا قال: بشَّرتُ فلانًا بقدوم أخيه، وثَقَلُه في أثره، لم يُعقَل منه إلا البشارةُ بالأمرين

(١) كذا ضبط «يعقوب» في ج بالضم على قراءة أبي عمرو، وعليها ينبني الإيراد الآتي وجوابه. (٢) كذا في الأصول ما عدا مب، ن وقد محا بعضهم التاء في ص، ع. وفي ق بخط متأخر: «لفظ واحد» يعني: فتناوَلَ البشارةَ، وقوله: «واحدة» خبر المضاف إليه «البشارة». (٣) وهي قراءة حفص وحمزة وابن عامر. واختلف في إعراب «يعقوب» بين الجر بالعطف والنصب على موضع «بإسحاق» أو بفعل مضمر دلَّ عليه الكلام، ورجَّح هذا الوجه أبو علي. انظر: «الحجة للقراء السبعة» (٤/ ٣٦٤ - ٣٦٧). (٤) هكذا السياق في ص. ولم يرد في ج «يعقوب، أي وبيعقوب ... إسحاق». ولم يرد في غيرها: «أي ويعقوبَ من وراء إسحاق يعقوبَ».