Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (4/242)

It was also said that this refers to food while awake; that is, no food from your homes that you are provided with, fed, and eat will come to you except that I will inform you of its interpretation—its quantity, its color, and the time at which it will reach you.

“Before it comes to you”: that is, before it reaches you. He would also tell them what food they had eaten, how much they had eaten, and when they had eaten. This was like the miracle of Jesus, peace be upon him, when he said: “And I inform you of what you eat and what you store in your houses” (Al Imran 49).

They said, “This is the work of fortune-tellers and soothsayers. (1) From where have you acquired this knowledge?” He replied, “I am not a soothsayer; rather, ‘That knowledge is from what my Lord has taught me. Indeed, I have forsaken the religion of a people who do not believe in Allah and who disbelieve in the Hereafter.’” The repetition of “they” is for emphasis.

(1) An arraf is one who claims knowledge of unseen matters through verbal or practical indications from which he infers their occurrence, such as identifying the person suspected of theft when something is stolen. Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah used the term as a general designation for a kahin (soothsayer), astrologer, sand diviner, and the like. A kahin is one who claims knowledge of the unseen, such as foretelling events that will occur on earth on the basis of some indication. This originally derives from the jinn eavesdropping on the speech of the angels and conveying it to the soothsayer's ear. This is a form of claiming knowledge of the unseen prohibited by Islam, for none knows the unseen except Allah. For further detail, see Uthman Jumu'ah Dumayriyyah, The Unseen and the Visible in the Islamic Conception, pp. 117-131.

وَقِيلَ: أَرَادَ بِهِ فِي الْيَقَظَةِ، يَقُولُ: لَا يَأْتِيكُمَا طَعَامٌ مِنْ مَنَازِلِكُمَا تُرْزَقَانِهِ، تُطْعَمَانِهِ وَتَأْكُلَانِهِ إِلَّا نَبَّأَتْكُمَا بِتَأْوِيلِهِ بِقَدْرِهِ وَلَوْنِهِ وَالْوَقْتِ الَّذِي يَصِلُ فِيهِ إِلَيْكُمَا. ﴿قَبْلَ أَنْ يَأْتِيَكُمَا﴾ قَبْلَ أَنْ يَصِلَ إِلَيْكُمَا، وَأَيَّ طَعَامٍ أَكَلْتُمْ وَكَمْ أَكَلْتُمْ وَمَتَى أَكَلْتُمْ، فَهَذَا مِثْلُ مُعْجِزَةِ عِيسَى ﵇ حَيْثُ قَالَ: ﴿وَأُنَبِّئُكُمْ بِمَا تَأْكُلُونَ وَمَا تَدَّخِرُونَ فِي بُيُوتِكُمْ﴾ (آلِ عِمْرَانَ -٤٩) فَقَالَا هَذَا فِعْلُ الْعَرَّافِينَ وَالْكَهَنَةِ (١) ، فَمِنْ أَيْنَ لَكَ هَذَا الْعِلْمُ؟ فَقَالَ: مَا أَنَا بَكَاهِنٍ وَإِنَّمَا ﴿ذَلِكُمَا﴾ الْعِلْمُ، ﴿مِمَّا عَلَّمَنِي رَبِّي إِنِّي تَرَكْتُ مِلَّةَ قَوْمٍ لَا يُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَهُمْ بِالْآخِرَةِ هُمْ كَافِرُونَ﴾ وَتَكْرَارُ ﴿هُمْ﴾ عَلَى التَّأْكِيدِ.

(١) العراف: هو الذي يزعم أنه يعرف الأمور الغيبية بمقدمات وأسباب قولية أو فعلية، يستدل بها على مواقعها، كالشيء يسرق، فيعرف المظنون به السرقة.. وجعله شيخ الإسلام ابن تيمية اسما للكاهن والمنجم والرمال ونحوهم. والكاهن: هو الذي يدعي علم الغيب، كالإخبار بما سيقع في الأرض مع الاستناد إلى سبب. والأصل فيه: استراق الجن السمع من كلام الملائكة فيلقيه في أذن الكاهن. وهذه صورة لادعاء علم الغيب حرمها الإسلام، إذ لا يعلم الغيب إلا الله. انظر بالتفصيل: عالم الغيب والشهادة في التصور الإسلامي، تأليف عثمان جمعة ضميرية، ص (١١٧-١٣١) .