Then came the story of the transgressors on the Sabbath, confirming that. The essence of it is that when they neglected one command of His and took it lightly, which is the prohibition of the Sabbath, He punished them with a punishment with which He had not punished anyone from the worlds. He said: And certainly, it is closer to say that when He, glorified and exalted is He, reminded them of the blessing of forgiveness that preserved them from loss, He reproached them with another admonition by which He forsook a group of them until loss overcame them. They harmed only themselves, swearing that they were aware of it and present for it. He, exalted is He, said, adding to what you can understand: You have certainly known all of that from our covenants and what we mentioned of the consequences for those who broke our severe warning and the threat of that with humiliation and the various types of punishment that followed it. And certainly, by My might, you have known those who transgressed from among you on the Sabbath by making it lawful for themselves. The essence of the Sabbath is the cessation of work and the like. So we said, meaning that it resulted from their transgression that we said, by virtue of our greatness: 'Be you' by our will, 'apes despised,' meaning humiliated and cast out, the plural of 'despised' from 'khas' which is expulsion with disdain and contempt. The reason for that is that Allah, exalted is He, commanded them on the day of Friday, but they refused except for the Sabbath. So Allah made it a trial for them and prohibited them from working on it. They hunted out of fear and apprehension of punishment. When the time of His forgiveness for them and His forbearance, glorified and exalted is He, prolonged, they openly committed disobedience. He transformed those who disobeyed by direct action and those who remained silent about forbidding the wrong.