The Story of the People of Aylah Who Violated the Sabbath

Allah, exalted is He, says in Sūrat al-Aʿrāf:
“Ask them about the town that was by the sea, how its people broke the Sabbath: when their fish came to them on their Sabbath, drifting on the surface, but on the day they did not keep Sabbath the fish did not come to them. Thus We tested them because of the wickedness they persisted in. (163)
And when a group among them said, ‘Why do you admonish a people whom Allah is going to destroy or punish with a grievous torment?’ they answered, ‘As a clear excuse before your Lord, and that they might perhaps become mindful.’ (164)
Then, when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We delivered those who forbade evil and seized the wrongdoers with a wretched punishment, because of the sins they had been committing. (165)
And when they defiantly persisted in what they had been forbidden, We said to them, ‘Be apes, rejected and despised.’ ” (al-Aʿrāf 163-166)

He, exalted is He, also says in Sūrat al-Baqarah:
“You certainly knew those among you who transgressed concerning the Sabbath, so We said to them, ‘Be apes, despised.’ (65)
Thus We made it an exemplary punishment for those who were present and for those who came after, and a lesson for the God-fearing.” (al-Baqarah 65-66)

And He says in Sūrat al-Nisāʾ:
“Or We shall curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers; and Allah’s command is always carried out.” (4:47)

Ibn ʿAbbās, Mujāhid, ʿIkrimah, Qatādah, al-Suddi, and others said: “They were the people of Aylah.” Ibn ʿAbbās added that Aylah lay between Midian and Mount Ṭūr.

They related that these people were still observing the Torah’s prohibition of work on the Sabbath. Because fishing—and indeed every form of craft, commerce, or earning—was forbidden on that day, the fish felt secure and grew accustomed to approaching the shoreline. Each Sabbath they swarmed near the town in full view, swimming openly and unafraid, while the townsfolk neither disturbed nor frightened them. Allah says: “and on the day they did not keep Sabbath they did not come to them,” for on the other days they were allowed to fish.

Allah the Exalted declares: “Thus We tested them”—that is, We tried them by sending an abundance of fish on the Sabbath—“because of the sins they used to commit,” meaning on account of their prior disobedience.

When they noticed this, they devised ruses to catch the fish on the Sabbath. They set ropes, nets, and hooks, and dug channels that carried seawater into pools they had prepared; once the fish entered those basins they could not escape. They laid all of these traps on Friday, so that when the fish came freely on Saturday they would be ensnared. Then, when the fish emerged