Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:163
And ask them about the town that was by the sea - when they transgressed in [the matter of] the sabbath - when their fish came to them openly on their sabbath day, and the day they had no sabbath they did not come to them. Thus did We give them trial because they were defiantly disobedient.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of His word: وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ إِذْ يَعْدُونَ فِي السَّبْتِ إِذْ تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لا يَسْبِتُونَ لا تَأْتِيهِمْ كَذَلِكَ نَبْلُوهُمْ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ (163) (And ask them about the town that lay by the sea, when they transgressed the Sabbath, when their fish came to them in abundance on the day of their Sabbath, and on the day they did not keep the Sabbath did not come to them; thus We tried them because of their wickedness) (163)
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted — praised be His mention — says: ask, O Muḥammad, these Jews, who are your neighbors, about the matter of "the town that lay by the sea (ḥāḍirat al-baḥr)," He says: it lay in the presence of the sea, that is, in the vicinity of the sea and upon its shore.
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The scholars of interpretation (ahl al-taʾwīl) differed about this.
Some of them said: it is "Ayla."
* Mention of who said that:
15252 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to me, saying: Ibn Idrīs related to us, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and ask them about the town that lay by the sea," he said: it is a town called "Ayla," between Madyan and al-Ṭūr.
15253 — Al-Qāsim related to me, saying: al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAbd Allāh ibn Kathīr, concerning His word: "and ask them about the town that lay by the sea," he said: we have heard that it is Ayla.
15254 — Sallām ibn Sālim al-Khuzāʿī related to me, saying: Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym al-Ṭāʾifī related to us, saying: Ibn Jurayj related to us, on the authority of ʿIkrima, he said: I entered upon Ibn ʿAbbās while the muṣḥaf was on his lap and he was weeping. I said: what makes you weep, may Allah make me your ransom? He said: woe to you, do you know the town that lay by the sea? I said: that is Ayla!
15255 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: my father related to us, on the authority of Abū Bakr al-Hudhalī, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "and ask them about the town that lay by the sea," he said: it is Ayla.
15256 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭalḥa, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: it is a town on the shore of the sea, between Egypt and al-Madīna, called "Ayla."
15257 — Mūsā ibn Hārūn related to us, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, he said: they are the inhabitants of Ayla, the town that lay by the sea.
15258 — Al-Ḥārith related to me, saying: Abū Saʿd related to us, on the authority of Mujāhid, concerning His word: "and ask them about the town that lay by the sea," he said: Ayla.
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And others said: its meaning is: the coast of Madyan.
15259 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: "and ask them about the town that lay by the sea," the āyah, it has been related to us that it was a town on the coast of the sea, called Ayla.
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And others said: it is Maqnā.
* Mention of who said that:
15260 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: "and ask them about the town that lay by the sea," he said: it is a town called "Maqnā," between Madyan and ʿAynūnī.
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And others said: it is Madyan.
* Mention of who said that:
15261 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq related to me, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, he said: it is a town between Ayla and al-Ṭūr, called "Madyan."
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Abū Jaʿfar said: and the correct judgment concerning this is that one says: it is a town that lay by the sea = and it is possible that it is Ayla = and it is possible that it is Madyan = and it is possible that it is Maqnā = because all of these lay by the sea, and there is no narration from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ that cuts off the excuse as to which of these it would be, and the disagreement concerning it is as I have described. And one cannot arrive at knowledge of something that has already happened and passed, which we have not beheld with our own eyes, except through a narration that furnishes certain knowledge. And there is no such narration concerning this.
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And His word: "when they transgressed the Sabbath (idh yaʿdūna fī al-sabt)," by this He means its inhabitants, when on the Sabbath they transgressed the command of Allah and overstepped it toward what Allah had forbidden them.
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Of this one says: "ʿadā fulān amrī" and "iʿtadā," when he overstepped it.
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And their transgression on the Sabbath was: that Allah had forbidden them the Sabbath, yet they caught fish on it.
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= "when their fish came to them in abundance on the day of their Sabbath (shurraʿan)," He says: when their fish came to them on the day of their Sabbath, on which work was forbidden them = "shurraʿan," He says: visibly protruding above the water from every way and direction, like the thoroughfares, as in what follows:
15262 — Abū Kurayb related to us, saying: ʿUthmān ibn Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Bishr ibn ʿUmāra, on the authority of Abū Rawq, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "when their fish came to them in abundance on the day of their Sabbath," he says: visible above the water.
15263 — Muḥammad ibn Saʿd related to me, saying: my father related to me, saying: my uncle related to me, saying: my father related to me, on the authority of his father, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "shurraʿan," he says: from every place.
* * *
And His word: "and on the day they did not keep the Sabbath (wa-yawma lā yasbitūn)," He says: and on the day they did not venerate it as they venerated the Sabbath, and that is all the remaining days except the Sabbath day = "did not come to them" — the fish = "thus We tried them because of their wickedness," He says: as We have described to you of the trial and the testing that We have mentioned, by making the fish visible to them above the surface of the water on the day on which catching it was forbidden them, and concealing it from them on the day on which catching it was permitted = "thus We try them," and We test them = "because of their wickedness," He says: because of their wickedness (fisq) against the obedience to Allah and their departure from it.
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The reciters differed in the reading of His word: "wa-yawma lā yasbitūn."
It was read with a fatḥa on the "yāʾ" of (yasbitūn) = derived from the word of him who says: "sabata fulān yasbitu sabtan wa-subūtan," when he venerated the Sabbath.
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And it is related from al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī that he read it: (wa-yawma lā yusbatūn) with a ḍamma on the yāʾ = derived from "asbata al-qawm yusbitūn," when they entered into the Sabbath, as one says: "ajmaʿnā," a Friday (jumuʿa) passed by us, and "ashharnā," a month passed by us, and "asbatnā," a Sabbath passed by us.
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And the word "yawma" in His word "wa-yawma lā yasbitūn" is in the accusative because of His word "did not come to them (lā taʾtīhim)," because the meaning of the word is: they did not come to them on the day they did not keep the Sabbath.
