Tafseer of The Heights · Al-A'raaf · 7:164
And when a community among them said, "Why do you advise [or warn] a people whom Allah is [about] to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?" they [the advisors] said, "To be absolved before your Lord and perhaps they may fear Him."
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 discourse on the explanation of His saying: وَإِذْ قَالَتْ أُمَّةٌ مِنْهُمْ لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْمًا اللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا قَالُوا مَعْذِرَةً إِلَى رَبِّكُمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ (164) (And when a community among them said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?" They said: "As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing." (164))
Abū Jaʿfar said: The Exalted, whose praise is exalted, says to His Prophet Muḥammad ﷺ: Remember also, O Muḥammad — "when a community (umma) among them said", that is: a group among them to a group that was admonishing the transgressors of the sabbath and forbidding them to disobey Allah therein — "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?", in this world, on account of their disobedience to Him, their opposition to His command, and their holding lawful what He had forbidden them — "or to punish with a severe punishment?", in the Hereafter. Those who were restraining them from disobedience to Allah replied to their word: our admonishing of them is an excuse before your Lord, by which we fulfill His prescription upon us regarding commanding the good and forbidding the reprehensible — "and that they might perhaps become God-fearing", that is: and that they might perhaps fear Allah and be in awe of Him, and turn to His obedience, and repent of their disobedience to Him and their transgression of what He had forbidden them through their overstepping on the sabbath, as in: —
15264 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn al-Ḥuṣayn, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "They said: 'As an excuse before your Lord'", on account of our aversion to their deeds.
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= "and that they might perhaps become God-fearing": that is: that they might desist from that in which they are.
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15265 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "and that they might perhaps become God-fearing", he said: that they might leave off this conduct in which they are.
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The reciters differed in the reading of His saying: "They said: 'As an excuse (maʿdhira)'". Most of the reciters of the Ḥijāz, Kūfa, and Baṣra read it: (maʿdhiratun) in the nominative (rafʿ), in accordance with the meaning that I have described.
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Some of the scholars of Kūfa read it: (maʿdhiratan) in the accusative (naṣb), with the meaning: we admonished them and did that as an excuse.
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The people of knowledge differed concerning this group that said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?" — did it belong to the saved or to the destroyed?
Some of them said: it belonged to the saved, because it was the one that forbade the destroyed group to transgress on the sabbath.
* Mention of who said that:
15266 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: ʿAbdallāh ibn Ṣāliḥ related to us, saying: Muʿāwiya related to me, on the authority of ʿAlī, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning His saying: "And when a community among them said: 'Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?'": it is a town on the coast of the sea between Mecca and Medina, called Ayla. Allah forbade them the fish on their sabbath day, and the fish came in abundance to the coast of the sea on their sabbath day. When the sabbath day had passed, they could not obtain them. They remained so as long as Allah willed, and then a group of them took the fish on their sabbath day. A group forbade it to them and said: do you take them, while Allah has forbidden them to you on your sabbath day! But they only increased in error and arrogance, and another group continued forbidding it to them. When this dragged on long for them, a group of the forbidders said: know that this is a people upon whom the punishment has become inevitable — "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?" — and they were more violently enraged for the sake of Allah than the other group. They said: "As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing". And all of them had forbidden. When the wrath of Allah came down upon them, the two groups that said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?", and that said: "As an excuse before your Lord", were saved. And Allah destroyed the people of His disobedience, who had taken the fish, and made them apes and swine.
15267 — 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: وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ ("And ask them about the town that was by the sea"), up to His saying: وَيَوْمَ لا يَسْبِتُونَ لا تَأْتِيهِمْ ("and on the day they did not keep sabbath, they did not come to them"). That was because the inhabitants of a town that was by the sea, their fish came to them on their sabbath day. He says: when they kept sabbath, they came to them in abundance — that is: from every side — and on the day they did not keep sabbath, they did not come to them. And they said: had we taken of these fish on the day they come, we would have enough for the remaining days! Then believing folk admonished them and forbade it to them. And a group of the believers said: this people has resolved upon something from which they will not desist, and Allah will humiliate them and punish them with a severe punishment. The believers said to one another: "As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing" — if ruin comes, then we will perhaps be saved, and if they desist, then it is a reward for us. Allah had prescribed for the Children of Israel a day to worship Him and devote themselves to it, and that was Monday. But the wicked ones transgressed, moving from Monday to the sabbath, and said: it is the sabbath day! Moses forbade it to them, but they differed about it, and so the sabbath was imposed upon them, and he forbade them to work therein and to transgress therein. A man of them once went to gather firewood, and Moses (peace be upon him) seized him and asked him: has anyone commanded you this? But he found no one who had commanded it to him, and his companions stoned him.
15268 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī, saying: some of those who forbade them said to others: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?", he says: why do you admonish them, while you have already admonished them and they did not obey you? Some of them then said: "As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing".
15269 — Muḥammad ibn al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Muʿādh ibn Hāniʾ related to us, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "And when a community among them said: 'Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?'", he said: I do not know whether those who said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?" were saved or not! He said: I kept pressing him until I made him realize that they were saved, and he clothed me with a garment.
15270 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Ḥammād related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās recited this verse, and he mentioned something similar — except that in his narration he said: I kept clarifying it to him until he realized that they were saved.
15271 — 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, saying: I entered upon Ibn ʿAbbās, and the muṣḥaf was in his lap, and he was weeping. I said: what makes you weep, may Allah make me a ransom for you? He said: and he recited: وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ ("And ask them about the town that was by the sea"), up to His saying: بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ("on account of the corruption they used to commit"). Ibn ʿAbbās said: I do not hear the third group mentioned, and I fear that we will be like them! I said: do you not hear Allah saying: فَلَمَّا عَتَوْا عَنْ مَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ ("Then when they arrogantly persisted in what they had been forbidden")? Then he was relieved, and he clothed me with a garment.
15272 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Ibn Jurayj informed us, saying: a man related to me, on the authority of ʿIkrima, saying: I came one day to Ibn ʿAbbās, and he was weeping, and behold, the muṣḥaf was in his lap. I deemed it too weighty to come nearer, and I remained so until I went forward and sat down. I said: what makes you weep, O Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah make me a ransom for you? He said: these pages! He said: and behold, he was at "Sūrat al-Aʿrāf". He said: do you know Ayla? I said: yes! He said: there was a tribe of the Jews there, toward whom the fish were driven on the sabbath day, and afterward they would dive away and they could not obtain them except by diving themselves, after heavy effort and toil. They came on the sabbath day in abundance, white and fat as though they were pregnant, their backs spread out over their bellies, in their courtyards and by their buildings. They remained so for a time, until Satan whispered to them and said: you have only been forbidden to eat them on the sabbath day, so catch them on it and eat them on the remaining days! A group of them said that, but another group of them said: no, you are forbidden to eat them, to take them, and to catch them on the sabbath day. They remained so, until the following Friday came. A group went out with themselves, their children, and their wives, and a group held aloof on the right side and withdrew to one side, and a group held aloof on the left side and kept silent. The right wing said: woe to you! Allah, Allah! We forbid you to expose yourselves to the punishment of Allah! And the left wing said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?" The right wing said: "As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing!" — that is: that they might desist, for it is dearer to us that they not be stricken and not destroyed; and if they do not desist, then it is an excuse before your Lord. But they persisted in the offense, and the right wing said: you have done it, O enemies of Allah! By Allah, we will not spend this night with you in your town, and by Allah, we do not think that you will reach the morning before Allah strikes you with a swallowing-up, a casting-down, or something of what He possesses of punishment! When it became morning, they knocked at the gate for them and called out, but they were not answered. They set up a ladder and let a man climb over the town wall, and he looked down at them and said: O servants of Allah, they are apes, by Allah, calling out to one another with tails! He said: they opened up and entered upon them, and the apes recognized their kinsfolk among the humans, but the humans did not recognize their kinsfolk among the apes. The apes would come to their kinsman among the humans, sniff at his clothes and weep, and he would say to them: did we not forbid you such and such? And the ape would nod its head: yes! Then Ibn ʿAbbās recited: فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ وَأَخَذْنَا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا بِعَذَابٍ بَئِيسٍ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ("Then when they forgot that of which they had been reminded, We saved those who forbade evil, and seized those who did wrong with a wretched punishment, on account of the corruption they used to commit"). He said: thus I see that the Jews who forbade were saved, but I do not see the others mentioned, and we see things we disapprove of, yet say nothing about them! I said: indeed yes, may Allah make me a ransom for you, do you not see that they disapproved of what they were in, and contradicted them and said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish?" He said: then he gave a command and I was clothed with two thick cloaks.
15273 — Bishr ibn Muʿādh related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ ("And ask them about the town that was by the sea"), we have been told that when it was the sabbath day, the fish came until they stretched themselves out on their coasts and in their courtyards, on account of what had reached them of the command of Allah in the water; and when it was not the sabbath day, they withdrew into the water until whoever sought them had to seek them. Then Satan came to them and said: you have only been forbidden to eat them on the sabbath day, so catch them on the sabbath day and eat them afterward! ..... [here a part of the narration is missing] His saying: "And when a community among them said: 'Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?' They said: 'As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing'": the people became three kinds. As for the one kind: they held fast to the sacred things of Allah and forbade disobedience to Allah. As for the other kind: they held fast to the sacred things of Allah out of awe of Allah. And as for the other kind: they violated the sacred things and fell into the offense.
15274 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, saying: ʿĪsā related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, concerning the saying of Allah: حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ ("that was by the sea"), he said: the fish were forbidden to them on the sabbath day, and they came on the sabbath day in abundance — a trial with which they were tried — and they did not come on other days, except that they had to seek them — likewise a trial — on account of the corruption they used to commit. They took them on the sabbath day, holding it lawful and in disobedience, and Allah said to them: كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ ("Be despised apes") — except a group of them who did not transgress and forbade it to them; they said to one another: "Why do you admonish a people?"
15275 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning His saying: "And when a community among them said: 'Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?'", until he reached "and that they might perhaps become God-fearing", that they might leave off what they were in. He said: they had been tried by the withholding of the fish from them. They kept sabbath on the sabbath day and did nothing on it, and when it was the sabbath day, the fish came to them in abundance, and when it was not the sabbath day, not one fish came. He said: it was a people who had intensely craved the love of fish and had thereby undergone trial. A man of them took a fish, tied a thread to its tail and then tied that to a stone, and left it in the water, until the sun of Sunday set, then he drew it to himself by the thread and roasted it. A neighbor of his smelled the odor of fish and said: O so-and-so, I smell in your house the odor of fish! He said: no! He said: he then looked into his oven, and behold, there it was, and then he told him the matter. He said: I think that Allah will punish you. He said: but when he saw no hastened punishment, at the next sabbath he took two fish and tied them up. A neighbor then looked down upon him, and when he saw that he underwent no hastened punishment, they began to catch them. The townspeople then looked down upon them, and those who forbade the reprehensible forbade it to them. They became two groups: a group that forbade it to them and abstained, and a group that forbade it to them but did not abstain. Those who forbade and abstained said to those who forbade but did not abstain: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?" The others said: "As an excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become God-fearing". Then Allah said: فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ ("Then when they forgot that of which they had been reminded, We saved those who forbade evil"), up to His saying: بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ("on account of the corruption they used to commit"). Allah said: فَلَمَّا عَتَوْا عَنْ مَا نُهُوا عَنْهُ قُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ ("Then when they arrogantly persisted in what they had been forbidden, We said to them: Be despised apes"). And the inhabitants of that town said to them: you have committed an evil deed; whoever wishes to set himself apart and purify himself, let him set himself apart from these! He said: these and those set themselves apart in their town, and they threw up a wall between themselves, and they made in that wall gates through which some went out to others. He said: when it became night, Allah overtook them with a punishment, and those believers awoke in the morning without seeing any of them. They entered upon them, and behold, they were apes — the man and his wives and his children. They began to enter upon the man, recognized him and said: O so-and-so, did we not warn you of the assaults of Allah? Did we not warn you of the retributions of Allah? And we warned you and warned you? He said: and there was nothing but weeping! He said: Allah only punished those who did wrong, who persisted therein. He said: as for those who forbade, all of them had forbidden, but some were more excellent than others. Then he recited: أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ وَأَخَذْنَا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا بِعَذَابٍ بَئِيسٍ بِمَا كَانُوا يَفْسُقُونَ ("We saved those who forbade evil, and seized those who did wrong with a wretched punishment, on account of the corruption they used to commit").
15276 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: al-Muḥāribī related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd, on the authority of ʿIkrima, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās recited this verse: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?", he said: I do not know whether the people were saved or destroyed! I kept clarifying it to him until he realized that they were saved, and he clothed me with a garment.
15277 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ashhab ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz informed me, on the authority of Mālik, saying: Ibn Rūmān claimed concerning His saying: تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لا يَسْبِتُونَ لا تَأْتِيهِمْ ("their fish came to them on their sabbath day in abundance, and on the day they did not keep sabbath, they did not come to them"), he said: they came to them on the sabbath day, and when evening fell, they went away, and nothing of them was seen until the sabbath. A man of them took for that purpose a thread and a peg, and on the sabbath day tied up a fish of them in the water, until they came on the evening of Sunday night; then he took it and roasted it. The people smelled its odor, came to him and asked him about it, but he denied it to them. They kept pressing him, until he said to them: it is the skin of a fish that we found! When it was the next sabbath, he did the same — and I do not know, perhaps he said: he tied up two fish — and when it became evening on Sunday night, he took it and roasted it. They smelled its odor, came and asked him about it, and he said to them: if you wished, you would do as I do! They said to him: and what do you do? And he told them, and they did the same as he had done, until that became frequent. They had a town with an outlying quarter (rabaḍ), and they shut it, and then there befell them of the transformation what befell them. Their neighbors who lived in their vicinity went out to them in the morning and sought of them what people are wont to seek, but they found the town shut against them. They called out, but they did not answer them, and they climbed over the wall, and behold, they were apes. The ape would come nearer, rub itself against the one it had known before, approach him and rub itself against him.
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Others said: no, the group that said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?" belonged to the destroyed group.
* Mention of who said that:
15278 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, 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: وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ ("And ask them about the town that was by the sea"), up to His saying: شُرَّعًا ("in abundance"), he said: Ibn ʿAbbās said: they introduced the sabbath as an innovation and were tried in it, and the fish were forbidden to them on it. When it was the sabbath day, the fish came to them in abundance and they looked at them in the sea. When the sabbath had passed, they went away and were not seen until the following sabbath, and when the sabbath came, they came in abundance. They remained as long as Allah willed them to remain so, and then a man of them took a fish, pierced its nose, drove a peg for it into the coast, tied it up and left it in the water. When it was the next day, he took it, roasted it, and ate it. He did that while they looked on and did not disapprove of it, and none of them forbade it to him except a band of them who forbade it to him, until this appeared in the markets and was done openly. He said: then a group said to those who forbade: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment? They said: 'As an excuse before your Lord'", on account of our aversion to their deeds, وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ * فَلَمَّا نَسُوا مَا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ ("and that they might perhaps become God-fearing. Then when they forgot that of which they had been reminded"), up to His saying: قُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ ("We said to them: Be despised apes"). Ibn ʿAbbās said: they were in three: a third forbade, a third said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?", and a third were the people of the offense. None were saved except those who forbade, and the rest were destroyed. Those who forbade evil awoke one day in their assemblies and sought the people, but did not see them. They climbed onto their houses and began to say: the people have something the matter with them, see what is the matter with them! They looked into their houses, and behold, the people had been transformed in their dwellings into apes. They recognized the man by name, while he was an ape, and they recognized the woman by name, while she was a she-ape. Allah said: فَجَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ ("So We made it a deterrent punishment for those before it and those after it, and an admonition for the God-fearing") [Sūrat al-Baqara: 66].
15279 — 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: أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ ("We saved those who forbade evil"), the verse. Ibn ʿAbbās said: the forbidders were saved, and the doers were destroyed, and I do not know what was done with the silent ones!
15280 — Ibn ʿAbd al-Aʿlā related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Thawr related to us, on the authority of Maʿmar, on the authority of Qatāda, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?", he said: they are three groups: the group that admonished, the admonished group that was admonished, and — Allah knows best what the third group did — and those are the ones who said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?"
= And al-Kalbī said: they are two groups: the group that admonished, and the one that said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?" He said: that is the admonished group.
15281 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: ʿImrān ibn ʿUyayna related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ ibn al-Sāʾib, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, saying: that I should know concerning these who said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?", is dearer to me than that against which it is weighed!
15282 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, saying: Ibn ʿAbbās said: "And when a community among them said: 'Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?'", he said: I hear Allah saying: أَنْجَيْنَا الَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ السُّوءِ وَأَخَذْنَا الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا بِعَذَابٍ بَئِيسٍ ("We saved those who forbade evil, and seized those who did wrong with a wretched punishment"), and oh, would that I knew what was done with these who said: "Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is about to destroy?"
15283 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Yaʿqūb related to us, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Māhān al-Ḥanafī Abū Ṣāliḥ, concerning His saying: تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لا يَسْبِتُونَ لا تَأْتِيهِمْ ("their fish came to them on their sabbath day in abundance, and on the day they did not keep sabbath, they did not come to them"), he said: they were in the town that was on the coast of the sea, and the days were six, from Sunday to Friday. The Jews added the sabbath day and imposed the sabbath upon themselves, and Allah imposed it upon them; before that there was no sabbath, and Allah confirmed it for them and tried them in it with the fish. They began to come on the sabbath day in abundance, and they were wary of obtaining them, until a man of them said: by Allah, the sabbath is not a day that Allah has imposed upon us, we have imposed it upon ourselves; I would indeed like to take of this fish! And he took a fish of the fish. A neighbor of his heard that and feared the punishment, and fled from his house. When he remained as long as Allah willed, and no punishment befell him, another too took on the sabbath day. When the punishment did not befall them, those who took on the sabbath day became numerous, and they made of the sabbath day and the sabbath night a festival, on which they drank wines and played with the musical instruments. Their best and their righteous said to them: woe to you, cease from what you do! Verily Allah will destroy you or punish you with a severe punishment — do you then not understand? And do not transgress on the sabbath! But they refused. Their best then said: we will throw up a wall between us and them. And they did it. When it was the sabbath night, they were troubled by what they heard of their voices and the sounds of the musical instruments, until on the night in which they were transformed, their voices fell silent at the beginning of the night. Their best said: what is the matter with your people, that their voices have fallen silent this night? Some said: perhaps the wine has overcome them and they have gone to sleep! When they awoke in the morning, they heard no sound from them. Some said to others: what is the matter with us, that we hear no sound from your people? They said to a man: climb the wall and see what is the matter with them. He climbed the wall and saw them milling about — they had been transformed into apes. He said to his people: come and look at your people, what has befallen them! They climbed and began to look at the man, and they recognized him and said: O so-and-so, are you so-and-so? And he pointed with his hand to his breast: yes, on account of what my hands have earned.
15284 — Yaʿqūb and Ibn Wakīʿ both related to me, saying: Ibn ʿUlayya related to us, on the authority of Ayyūb, saying: al-Ḥasan recited one day: 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 ("And ask them about the town that was by the sea, when they transgressed on the sabbath, when their fish came to them on their sabbath day in abundance, and on the day they did not keep sabbath, they did not come to them. Thus We tried them, on account of the corruption they used to commit"). Then he said: it is a fish that Allah had forbidden them on one day, and had made lawful to them on the remaining days. It came to them on the day Allah had forbidden them, as though it were pregnant, withholding itself from no one. And seldom did I see anyone much occupied with sin, but that he fell into it. They began to be ever occupied with it and to restrain themselves, until they took it and ate the most harmful meal a people ever ate — He let it persist as a humiliation in this world, and as the heaviest punishment in the Hereafter! And by Allah, [a fish that a people took and ate is, by Allah, not weightier than the killing of a believing man]! And the believer is, with Allah, of greater sanctity than a fish, but Allah has set the appointment of a people at the Hour — وَالسَّاعَةُ أَدْهَى وَأَمَرُّ ("and the Hour is more calamitous and more bitter") [Sūrat al-Qamar: 46].
15285 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Sufyān informed us, on the authority of Abū Mūsā, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, saying: the fish came to them, in abundance in their pools, as though they were pregnant, and they ate — by Allah — the most harmful meal a people ever ate, the worst of it in punishment in this world, and the heaviest of it in torment in the Hereafter!
And al-Ḥasan said: the killing of the believer is — by Allah — weightier than the eating of the fish!
15286 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, saying: I was sitting in the mosque, and behold, an old man came and the people sat down with him, and they said: this is one of the companions of ʿAbdallāh ibn Masʿūd! He said: Ibn Masʿūd said: وَاسْأَلْهُمْ عَنِ الْقَرْيَةِ الَّتِي كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ الْبَحْرِ ("And ask them about the town that was by the sea"), the verse, he said: when the sabbath was forbidden to them, the fish came on the sabbath day, and came safely, and came out into the open, so that they could not touch them. When the sabbath had passed, they went away, and they fished as people fish. When they wished to transgress on the sabbath, they fished. A people of their righteous forbade it to them, but they refused, and the corrupt outnumbered them. The corrupt wished to fight them, but among them was one with whom they did not wish to fight — the father of one of them, his brother, or his kinsman. When they forbade them and they refused, the righteous said: then we will be blamed for it! And we will throw up a wall between us and them! And they did it. When they missed their voices, they said: would you look at your brothers, what they have done! They looked, and behold, they had been transformed into apes. They recognized the large one by its largeness and the small one by its smallness, and they began to weep over them. And this was after Moses (peace be upon him).
