At-Tabari on This Verse
At-Tabari explains the following in his tafsir regarding the mentioned verse:
﴿وَرَجُلًا سَلَمًا لِرَجُلٍ﴾، يَقُولُ: وَرَجُلًا خلُوصًا لِرَجُلٍ يَعْنِي الْمُؤْمِنَ الْمُوَحِّدَ الَّذِي أَخْلَصَ عِبَادَتَهُ لِلَّهِ، لَا يَعْبُدُ غَيْرَهُ ... وَذَلِكَ أَنَّ السَّلَمَ مَصْدَرٌ مِنْ قَوْلِ الْقَائِلِ: سَلِمَ فُلَانٌ لِلَّهِ سَلَمًا بِمَعْنَى: خَلَصَ لَهُ خُلُوصًا ...
“And the example of a man who is fully and completely devoted to a single master”, Allah (thus) says: “And a man who belongs purely and exclusively to one master.” He refers to the mu'min muwahhid56, who purifies his 'ibadah solely for Allah and does not worship anyone else …
The word salam is the masdar of salima. It is said: “salima li-llahi salaman” meaning “khalasa lahu khulusan”57.
At-Tabari explicitly mentions here that the person in this example is a Muslim and a muwahhid, who performs all his actions solely for Allah سبحانه وتعالى and purifies them from shirk/polytheism. For such a person, there is no other ilah and no other sharik/partner.
In this Qur'anic verse, therefore, lies an example of these two opposites: the Muslim and the mushrik. It then clearly states again: “Are these two equal?!”
Apart from that, ikhlas is again clearly mentioned here as the meaning of Islam. This significant connection has already been highlighted earlier. The two words salim and khalis linguistically and conceptually describe the same quality of a person: being free and untainted by polytheism. The same applies to the two words “Islam” and “ikhlas”, which are similarly derived from their respective corresponding word mentioned earlier.
At-Tabari also narrates this explanation of this verse mentioned by him also from some of the salaf, meaning the prominent scholars of the first generations of Muslims.
Among them is the following statement from 'Abdurrahman ibnu Zayd ibni Aslam رحمه الله, who said regarding this verse:
حَدَّثَنِي يُونُسُ، قَالَ: أَخْبَرَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، قَالَ: قَالَ ابْنُ زَيْدٍ، فِي قَوْلِهِ: {ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا رَجُلًا فِيهِ شُرَكَاءُ مُتَشَاكِسُونَ وَرَجُلًا سَلَمًا لِرَجُلٍ} [الزمر: 29] ... فَإِنَّمَا هَذَا مَثَلٌ ضَرَبَهُ اللَّهُ لِهَؤُلَاءِ الَّذِينَ يَعْبُدُونَ الْآلِهَةَ، وَجَعَلُوا لَهَا فِي أَعْنَاقِهِمْ حُقُوقًا، فَضَرَبَهُ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا لَهُمْ، وَلِلَّذِي يَعْبُدُهُ وَحْدَهُ {هَلْ يَسْتَوِيَانِ مَثَلًا الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ} [الزمر: 29]» وَفِي قَوْلِهِ: «وَرَجُلًا سَالِمًا لِرَجُلٍ» يَقُولُ: «لَيْسَ مَعَهُ شِرْكٌ»
This is a parable that Allah has set forth for those who worship the alihah58. They believed that (these alihah) had a rightful claim59 over them… and for the one who worships Allah alone. “Are they equal in comparison? Praise be to Allah! But most of them do not know.”
(…and another belonging exclusively to one man) means: someone who commits no shirk (whatsoever).
In the end, at-Tabari finally explains:
﴿بَلْ أَكْثَرُهُمْ لا يَعْلَمُونَ﴾ يَقُولُ جَلَّ ثَنَاؤُهُ: وَمَا يَسْتَوِي هَذَا الْمُشْتَرَكُ فِيهِ، وَالَّذِي هُوَ مُنْفَرِدٌ مُلْكُهُ لِوَاحِدٍ، بَلْ أَكْثَرُ هَؤُلَاءِ الْمُشْرِكِينَ بِاللَّهِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ أَنَّهُمَا لَا يَسْتَوِيَانِ، فَهُمْ بِجَهْلِهِمْ بِذَلِكَ يَعْبُدُونَ آلِهَةً شَتَّى مِنْ دُونِ اللَّهِ.
“But most of them do not know”, meaning: This one who is divided among several (masters) and the one who belongs exclusively to a single master are not equal.
But most of these who associate partners with Allah60 do not know that these two are not equal. In their ignorance of this, they worship various different alihah alongside Allah.
Notes
The Arabic word muwahhid is the ismu l-fa'il (active participle) derived from the word tawhid. It refers to the person who practices tawhid, literally meaning “the one who unifies or makes one.” Thus, the term refers to the monotheist who does not associate anything with his Creator, neither in worship nor in any other matters.
The fact that at-Tabari explicitly mentions this again here serves as further confirmation of this meaning. It also demonstrates that the terms tawhid and muwahhid (plural: muwahhidun) were well-established words among the early Islamic scholars. ↩
- It is thus clear that these two phrases are synonymous: “salima salaman = khalasa khulusan.” Both mean: “He belongs purely (only) to Allah and submits only to Him.” ↩
- The important word alihah or ilah has already been discussed in relation to the meaning of the testimony of faith. It refers to the objects of worship or deities in this sense, which the mushrikun took for veneration. ↩
- Through their beliefs, they granted authority to these idols over themselves. The mushrikun believed that they were obliged to fulfil these rights. All beliefs and acts associated with this are forms of worship, which belong exclusively to the one Lord. ↩
- In Arabic, he uses the term “al-mushrikuna bi-llah.” As previously explained, the word mushrik is the ismu l-fa'il (active participle) of the verb ashraka, meaning “the one who associates.” It could hardly be stated more clearly that this refers to people who commit the act of shirk and therefore must be referred to as mushrikun. This statement by at-Tabari will be discussed again later. ↩