Tafsir al-Baghawi - Al-Baghawi - (3/34)

Tafsir al-BaghawiAl-Baghawi

His words, exalted is He: “Say, ‘Then why does He punish you for your sins?’” That is, if the matter were as you claim—that you are His children and His beloved—then a father does not punish his child, nor does a beloved one punish his beloved; yet you acknowledge that He punishes you. It was also said that the meaning is: Why did He punish those before you for their sins, transforming them into apes and swine?

“Rather, you are human beings among those He has created,” like the rest of the children of Adam, recompensed for both evil and good. “He forgives whom He wills” out of grace, “and punishes whom He wills” out of justice. “To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and to Him is the final return.”

“O People of the Scripture, Our Messenger has come to you, making matters clear to you after an interval between messengers, lest you say, ‘No bearer of good news or warner ever came to us.’ But now there has come to you a bearer of good news and a warner. And Allah is over all things fully capable. (19) And when Moses said to his people, ‘O my people, remember Allah’s favor upon you, when He raised prophets among you, made you kings, and gave you what He had not given to anyone else in the worlds.’ (20)”

“O People of the Scripture, Our Messenger has come to you”—namely, Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“making matters clear to you”: the signs of guidance and the laws of the religion, “after an interval between messengers,” that is, after a cessation in the sending of messengers.

They differed concerning the length of the interval between Jesus and Muhammad, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. Abu Uthman al-Nahdi said: six hundred years. Qatadah said: five hundred and sixty years. Ma‘mar and al-Kalbi said: five hundred and forty years (1). It was called an interval because messengers had come in succession after Moses, without interruption, until the time of Jesus; and after Jesus there was no messenger other than our Messenger, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. “Lest you say,” that is, so that you would not say, “No bearer of good news or warner ever came to us. But now there has come to you a bearer of good news and a warner. And Allah is over all things fully capable.”

(1) Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir, may Allah have mercy on him, said in al-Tafsir, 2:36, after mentioning something similar to what al-Baghawi said: “Al-Dahhak said: four hundred and some thirty years. Ibn Asakir mentioned in his biography of Isa, peace be upon him, on the authority of al-Shabi, that he said: From the raising of the Messiah until the Hijrah of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, were nine hundred and thirty-three years. The well-known view is the first one: that it was six hundred years. Some say six hundred and twenty years. There is no contradiction between the two, for the first speaker intended six hundred solar years, while the other intended lunar years; between every one hundred solar years and lunar years there is approximately a difference of three years. This is why Allah said in the account of the People of the Cave: ‘Wa labithu fi kahfihim thalatha miatin sinina wa-izdadu tisa’ (They remained in their cave for three hundred years and increased by nine),’ i.e., lunar years, completing three hundred solar years, which were known to the People of the Book. The interval was between Isa son of Maryam, the last of the Prophets of the Children of Israel, and Muhammad, the Seal of all the Prophets, as established in Sahih al-Bukhari.” That is, the fatrah (interval), the period during which no messenger was sent, was between Isa and the mission of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.

قَوْلُهُ تَعَالَى: ﴿قُلْ فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُمْ بِذُنُوبِكُمْ﴾ يُرِيدُ إِنْ كَانَ الْأَمْرُ كَمَا زَعَمْتُمْ أَنَّكُمْ أَبْنَاؤُهُ وَأَحِبَّاؤُهُ فَإِنَّ الْأَبَ لَا يُعَذِّبُ وَلَدَهُ، وَالْحَبِيبَ لَا يُعَذِّبُ حَبِيبَهُ، وَأَنْتُمْ مُقِرُّونَ أَنَّهُ مُعَذِّبُكُمْ؟ وَقِيلَ: فَلِمَ يُعَذِّبُكُمْ أَيْ: لِمَ عَذَّبَ مَنْ قَبْلَكُمْ بِذُنُوبِهِمْ فَمَسَخَهُمْ قِرَدَةً وَخَنَازِيرَ؟ ﴿بَلْ أَنْتُمْ بَشَرٌ مِمَّنْ خَلَقَ﴾ كَسَائِرِ بَنِي آدَمَ مَجْزِيُّونَ بِالْإِسَاءَةِ وَالْإِحْسَانِ، ﴿يَغْفِرُ لِمَنْ يَشَاءُ﴾ فَضْلًا ﴿وَيُعَذِّبُ مَنْ يَشَاءُ﴾ عَدْلًا ﴿وَلِلَّهِ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ وَمَا بَيْنَهُمَا وَإِلَيْهِ الْمَصِيرُ﴾ ﴿يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ عَلَى فَتْرَةٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ أَنْ تَقُولُوا مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلَا نَذِيرٍ فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بَشِيرٌ وَنَذِيرٌ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ (١٩) وَإِذْ قَالَ مُوسَى لِقَوْمِهِ يَا قَوْمِ اذْكُرُوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ جَعَلَ فِيكُمْ أَنْبِيَاءَ وَجَعَلَكُمْ مُلُوكًا وَآتَاكُمْ مَا لَمْ يُؤْتِ أَحَدًا مِنَ الْعَالَمِينَ (٢٠) ﴾ ﴿يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا﴾ مُحَمَّدٌ ﷺ، ﴿يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ﴾ أَعْلَامَ الْهُدَى وَشَرَائِعَ الدِّينِ، ﴿عَلَى فَتْرَةٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ﴾ أَيِ انْقِطَاعٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ. وَاخْتَلَفُوا فِي مُدَّةِ الْفَتْرَةِ بَيْنَ عِيسَى ﵇ وَمُحَمَّدٍ ﷺ، قَالَ أَبُو عُثْمَانَ النَّهْدِيُّ: سِتُّمِائَةِ سَنَةٍ، وَقَالَ قَتَادَةُ: خَمْسُمِائَةٍ وَسِتُّونَ سَنَةً، وَقَالَ مَعْمَرٌ وَالْكَلْبِيُّ، خَمْسُمِائَةٍ وَأَرْبَعُونَ سَنَةً (١) وَسُمِّيَتْ فَتْرَةً لِأَنَّ الرُّسُلَ كَانَتْ تَتْرَى بَعْدَ مُوسَى ﵇ مِنْ غَيْرِ انْقِطَاعٍ إِلَى زَمَنِ عِيسَى ﵇، وَلَمْ يَكُنْ بَعْدَ عِيسَى ﵇ سِوَى رَسُولِنَا ﷺ. ﴿أَنْ تَقُولُوا﴾ كَيْلَا تَقُولُوا، ﴿مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلَا نَذِيرٍ فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بَشِيرٌ وَنَذِيرٌ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ﴾

(١) قال الحافظ ابن كثير، ﵀ في التفسير: ٢ / ٣٦ بعد أن ذكر نحوا مما قاله البغوي: ".. وقال الضحاك: أربعمائة وبضع وثلاثون سنة. وذكر ابن عساكر في ترجمة عيسى ﵇، عن الشعبي، أنه قال: ومن رفع المسيح إلى هجرة النبي ﷺ تسعمائة وثلاث وثلاثون سنة. والمشهور: هو القول الأول، وهو أنها ستمائة سنة. ومنهم من يقول: ستمائة وعشرون سنة. ولا منافاة بينهما؛ فإن القائل الأول أراد: ستمائة سنة شمسية، والآخر أراد قمرية، وبين كل مائة سنة شمسية وبين القمرية نحو من ثلاث سنين. ولهذا قال تعالى في قصة أهل الكهف: "ولبثوا في كهفهم ثلاثمائة سنين وازدادوا تسعا" أي: قمرية، لتكميل ثلاثمائة الشمسية، التي كنت معلومة لأهل الكتاب. وكانت الفترة بين عيسى ابن مريم آخر أنبياء بني إسرائيل وبين محمد خاتم النبيين على الإطلاق كما ثبت في صحيح البخاري". أي إن زمن الفترة وهي المدة الزمنية التي لم يبعث فيها رسول، هي ما بين عيسى وبعثة محمد ﷺ.