His saying, exalted and majestic is He: "And certainly you have known those among you who transgressed in the Sabbath, so We said to them, 'Be apes, despised.'" "So We made it a deterrent for what was before it and what was after it, and a lesson for the God-fearing." "And when Moses said to his people, 'Indeed, Allah commands you to sacrifice a cow.' They said, 'Do you take us in jest?' He said, 'I seek refuge with Allah from being among the ignorant.'"

"'You have known' means: 'You have recognized,' as you say: 'I have known Zayd' meaning 'I have recognized him.' The knowledge does not extend beyond one object. And 'transgressed' means: 'exceeded the limit,' derived from transgression. And 'in the Sabbath' means: 'on the day of Sabbath,' and it is possible that he means by the ruling of the Sabbath. The 'Sabbath' is derived from rest, which is relaxation and ease, or from cutting off, because things in it have ceased and their creation has been completed.

The story of their transgression in it is that Allah, exalted and majestic is He, commanded Moses, peace be upon him, on the day of Friday, and He made him aware of its virtue, as He commanded all the prophets with it. Moses, peace be upon him, mentioned this to the Children of Israel from Allah and commanded them to observe it, but they refused and transgressed to the day of Sabbath. So Allah revealed to Moses to leave them to what they chose from that, and He tested them in it by commanding them to cease work and forbidding them from fishing for fish. And He intensified the trial upon them by having the fish come on the day of Sabbath until they would come out to the courtyards. This was said by Al-Hasan ibn Abi Al-Hasan, and it was said: until they would bring their snouts out of the water. This was either by inspiration from Allah, glorified and exalted is He, or by an unexplainable command, or that they understood it as a sign of safety that was in the day with its repetition until they understood that. Do you not see that Allah, glorified and exalted is He, inspired the animals with the meaning of fear that is in the day of Friday from the matter of the resurrection? This is confirmed by the saying of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him: 'And there is no creature except that it is listening on the day of Friday, fearing from the hour.' And the pigeons of Mecca understood the safety, as they are connected to the proximity of their understanding.

The matter of the Children of Israel was at Bayla on the sea. So when the Sabbath came, the fish would leave and would not appear until the next Sabbath. They remained on that for a time until they desired the fish. A man, on the day of Sabbath, tied a fish with a rope and set a stake for it on the shore. When the Sabbath was over, he came and took it. Some people heard of his action and did likewise. It was said: Rather, a man dug a hole on a day other than the Sabbath, from which the sea would come out, and when the day of Sabbath came, the fish would come out and be in the hole. When the sea receded, the water would go away from the way of the hole and the fish would remain. He came after the Sabbath and took it. The people did likewise, and this increased until they openly caught fish on the day of Sabbath and sold it in the markets. This was one of the greatest transgressions. And there was among the Children of Israel a group that forbade that, so they were saved from punishment. And there was among them a group that neither disobeyed nor forbade, so it was said: They were saved with those who forbade, and it was said: They perished with those who disobeyed.

'And 'be' is a word of command, and it is a command of creation, as His saying, the Most High, to everything: (Be! And it is). And they were not commanded in the return to the state of transformation by anything they could do, nor do they have any means of earning in it. And 'humiliated' means: distanced, humiliated, and degraded, as it is said to a dog and to one who is expelled: 'Be humiliated,' you say: 'I humiliated him, so he was humiliated.' And its position in grammar is accusative as a state, or as a predicate after a predicate.

And it has been narrated in their stories that Allah, the Most High, transformed the disobedient into monkeys at night. So the survivors went to their mosques and gatherings, and they did not see anyone from the doomed. They said: 'Indeed, the people have a matter.' So they opened the doors for them as they were closed at night, and they found them 'monkeys,' recognizing the man and the woman. And it was said that the survivors had divided between them and the disobedient the village with a wall, distancing themselves from them. So they woke up and the city of the doomed had not been opened, so they climbed over the wall, and behold, they were monkeys, some of them jumping on others.

And it has been narrated from the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, that the transformed do not reproduce, nor do they eat, nor drink, nor live more than three days. And it was mentioned in the book of Muslim from him, peace be upon him: 'That a nation from the nations was lost, and I saw them as rats.' And the apparent meaning of this is that the transformed do reproduce. If he intended this, then it is a conjecture from him, peace be upon him, regarding a matter that has no entrance in conveying. Then it was revealed to him after that that the transformed do not reproduce. And the analogy of what we have said is his descent, peace be upon him, upon the waters of Badr, and he commanded him to discard the mention of the date palms. And he, blessings and peace be upon him, said: 'When I inform you of an opinion regarding the affairs of this world, I am but a human.'

And it has been narrated from Mujahid in the interpretation of this verse that only their hearts were transformed, and their understandings were returned to the understandings of monkeys. And the first is stronger and more apparent. And the pronoun in 'So We made it' can refer back to the transformation and the punishment, and it can refer back to the nation that was transformed, and it can refer back to the monkeys, and it can refer back to the village, as the meaning of the speech necessitates it. And it was said: it refers back to the fish, and in this saying there is a distance.

And the punishment is the deterrence by means of punishment, and the chains and shackles are iron restraints. So the punishment is a punishment by which the non-punished is deterred from doing such an act. Al-Suddi said: 'What is before the transformation is what preceded it from the sins of the people, and 'what is behind it' is for whoever sins after it like those sins.' And this is a good saying. Others said: 'What is before it' means whoever was present from the survivors, and 'what is behind it' means for whoever comes after it. And Ibn Abbas said: 'What is before it' means from after them from the people to warn and take heed, and 'what is behind it' is for whoever remains from them as a lesson.

The judge Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said: And I do not see what is reported from Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, as correct, because the indication of what is between the hands is not like in the saying. Ibn Abbas also said: ﴿for what is before it and what is behind it﴾ (p-245) meaning from the towns. This is an arrangement of bodies, not an arrangement in time. And "a reminder" is a noun derived from admonition and deterrence, and "for the righteous" means: for those who were forbidden and saved. A group said: Its meaning is for the Ummah of Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him. The wording encompasses every righteous person from every nation.

And His saying, the Exalted: ﴿And when Moses said﴾, the word "when" is a conjunction to what has preceded, and the intent is to remind them of their ancestors' breaking of the covenant. Abu Amr read: "He commands you" with the ra' being silent, and it was narrated from him that the vowel was omitted. The saying regarding this is similar to what was previously mentioned in "Your Creator."

The reason for this verse, as it has been narrated, is that a man from the Children of Israel aged, and he had wealth, and his nephew delayed his death. It was said: his brother, and it was said: his cousins, and it was said: many heirs who were not specified. He killed him to inherit him, and he threw him into another tribe other than his tribe to take his blood money and smear them with his blood. It was said: The Children of Israel were in two neighboring villages, so he threw him at the door of one of the cities, which was the one in which he was not killed. Then he began to search for him, he and his tribe, until they found him killed. He clung to the tribe or to the inhabitants of the city where the corpse was found, and they denied his killing. Thus, a dispute arose among the Children of Israel until they took up arms. The people of prohibition among them said: Will you kill while the Messenger of Allah is with us? So they went to Moses, peace be upon him, and told him the story, asking him for clarification. Allah revealed to him to slaughter a cow, and the slain would be struck with part of it, and he would come back to life and inform them of his killer. He said to them: ﴿Indeed, Allah commands you to slaughter a cow﴾, and their response was: ﴿Do you take us for a joke?"

Al-Jahdari read: "Do you take us" with the ya' meaning does Allah take us? Hamza read: "a joke" (p-246) with the zay and the hamzah being silent, and this is a dialect. Aasim read "a joke" with the zay and the ha' and the hamzah being pronounced. A group of readers also read with the ha' and zay being pronounced, and the hamzah in between, and it was narrated from Abu Ja'far and Shaiba that the ha' is pronounced and the zay is doubled as "a jest."

And this saying from the Children of Israel is evidently a corrupt belief from those who said it, and faith is not correct from one who says to a prophet whose miracles have been manifested: ﴿Indeed, Allah commands you to slaughter a cow, they said: Do you take us for a joke?" If someone said this today about some of the sayings of the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, it would necessitate his excommunication. And some people went to say that this was from them due to the hardness of their nature, rudeness, and disobedience, similar to what was said by the one who spoke to the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, regarding the distribution of the spoils of Hunayn: "Indeed, this is a distribution that was not intended for the sake of Allah," and as another said to him: "Be just, O Muhammad." And all are possible, and Allah knows best.

And the saying of Musa, blessings and peace be upon him: "I seek refuge with Allah from being among the ignorant," has two possible meanings. One of them is seeking refuge from ignorance in that he informs about Allah, glorified and exalted is He, mockingly. The other is from ignorance as they were ignorant in their saying: "Do you take us in mockery?" to one who informs them about Allah, glorified and exalted is He.