Tafsir Tabari to Surah «Al-Fātiha». Translation from Arabic and Comments. Part 3: Ayats 4–5

Abstract

This article continues a series of publications of the commented translation into Russian of the interpretation to the Surah “al-Fatiha” (No. 1) by the founder of classical Muslim exegesis Muḥammad ibn Jarīr aṭ-Ṭabari (839–923) from the book “Jāmi‘ al-bayān fī ta’wīl al- Qur’ān” (The Comprehensive Exposition of the interpretation of the Qur’ān). This part contains sections devoted to ayats 4–5 of this surah. Based on examples of pre-Islamic and Early Islamic poetry and traditions of the “ancient fathers” of the Ummah, the etymology and interpretation of the words used in them: ‘ubūdiyyā “worship”, hidāya “guidance” and ṣirāṭ “path” are given. In this part, the theologian also examines the variants of worlds order in the syntactic construction of the 4th verse and justifi es the grammatical necessity of repeating the iya-ka in it. A special place is devoted to the theological polemic with the Qadarites on the issue of the essence of Divine attributes and determinism.