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and nurture them in it.” Ibn 'Abbās said: “They are jurists who teach.”
I say: Those who enjoin and forbid are the jurists who teach. Qatāda and 'Atā’ said: “They are jurists, scholars, and wise men.” Ibn Qutayba said: “The singular is rabbānī (religious teacher), and they are scholars who teach.”
Abū 'Ubayd said: “I think the word is Hebrew or Syriac.” This is because Abū 'Ubayd maintained that the Arabs were unfamiliar with religious teachers.
I say: The word is Arabic, derived from rabbān (shipmaster), who stays aboard the ship and attends to its welfare. However, the Arabs in their pre-Islamic days had no religious teachers, because they did not follow a revealed law from Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
وَيُرَبُّونَهُمْ عَلَيْهَا
" وَعَنْ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ قَالَ: "
هُمْ الْفُقَهَاءُ الْمُعَلِّمُونَ ".
قُلْتُ:
أَهْلُ الْأَمْرِ وَالنَّهْيِ هُمْ الْفُقَهَاءُ الْمُعَلِّمُونَ.
وَقَالَ قتادة وَعَطَاءٌ:
هُمْ الْفُقَهَاءُ الْعُلَمَاءُ الْحُكَمَاءُ.
قَالَ ابْنُ قُتَيْبَةَ:
وَأَحَدُهُمْ رَبَّانِيٌّ وَهُمْ الْعُلَمَاءُ الْمُعَلِّمُونَ.
قَالَ أَبُو عُبَيْدٍ:
أَحْسَبُ الْكَلِمَةَ عِبْرَانِيَّةً أَوْ سُرْيَانِيَّةً وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ أَبَا عُبَيْدٍ زَعَمَ أَنَّ الْعَرَبَ لَا تَعْرِفُ الرَّبَّانِيِّينَ.
قُلْتُ:
اللَّفْظَةُ عَرَبِيَّةٌ مَنْسُوبَةٌ إلَى رَبَّانِ السَّفِينَةِ الَّذِي يَنْزِلُهَا وَيَقُومُ لِمَصْلَحَتِهَا وَلَكِنَّ الْعَرَبَ فِي جَاهِلِيَّتِهِمْ لَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُمْ رَبَّانِيُّونَ لِأَنَّهُمْ لَمْ يَكُونُوا عَلَى شَرِيعَةٍ مُنَزَّلَةٍ مِنْ اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ.