(161) “And when it was said to them, ‘Dwell in this town’”—that is, enter it so that it may become your homeland and dwelling place. It was Aelia. “And eat from it wherever you wish”—that is, it was a town of abundant trees and plentiful fruit, affording a life of ease. Allah therefore commanded them to eat from it wherever they wished.

“And say,” when you enter the gate, “Relieve us of our burdens”—that is, remove our sins from us and pardon us.

“And enter the gate bowing down”—that is, humbling yourselves before your Lord, submitting to His might, and giving thanks for His blessing. Thus, He commanded them to humble themselves and ask for forgiveness, promising them in return forgiveness of their sins and reward both immediate and in the Hereafter. He said: “We will forgive you your sins and will increase the doers of good” in the good of this world and the Hereafter.

But they did not obey this divine command. Instead, “those among them who did wrong substituted”—that is, they disobeyed Allah and treated His command with contempt—“words other than those they had been told.” Instead of asking for forgiveness and saying, “Relieve us of our burdens,” they said, “A grain in a barleycorn.” If they altered what they had been told to say, despite how effortless and easy it was, then it follows all the more that they altered what they had been told to do. Thus, they entered crawling on their buttocks.

When they defied Allah’s command and disobeyed Him, “We sent upon them a scourge from heaven”—that is, a severe punishment, whether the plague or some other heavenly punishment.

Allah did not wrong them by punishing them; rather, it was “because they persisted in wrongdoing”—that is, they departed from obedience to Allah and turned to disobedience, without any necessity compelling them or any motive inciting them, save the wickedness and evil lurking within their souls.