226 – ʿAbdullāh narrated to us; he said: Isḥāq ibn Ismāʿīl narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Sulaym al-Ṭāʾifī informed us; I heard Ibn Jurayj relating from ʿIkrimah:

I entered upon Ibn ʿAbbās while he was reciting from the muṣḥaf, before his sight had gone, and he was weeping. I asked, “What is making you weep—may Allah make me your ransom?” He replied, “Woe to you! Do you know Aylah?” I said, “What is Aylah?” He said, “A town in which lived a group of Jews. Allah, Exalted is He, had forbidden them their fish on their Sabbath, yet the fish would come to them on Saturday—white, fat, like pregnant she-camels, ⦗154⦘ butting against their buildings. When it was a day other than Saturday, the fish disappeared and they could not catch any except with great toil, hardship, and severe expense.

“Some of them said to others, ‘Perhaps if we catch them on Saturday, we can eat them on a day other than Saturday.’ One household among them did so and roasted the fish. Their neighbours smelled the aroma of the roast and said, ‘By Allah, it seems not a thing has afflicted the family of so-and-so.’ Others followed their example until the practice became common and spread among them.

“They then split into three factions: one that ate, one that forbade, and one that said, ‘Why do you preach to a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment?’ The forbidding faction answered, ‘As an excuse before your Lord, and so that they might become God-fearing’ (al-Aʿrāf 164).

“The faction that forbade said, ‘O our people, we warn you lest Allah cause you to die by maskh (metamorphosis), or khasf (swallowing into the earth), or qadhf (pelting), or by some other punishment that He holds. By Allah, we will not spend the night in any place where you are.’ So they left the town’s wall.

⦗153⦘ “The next morning they came to the wall; one of them climbed up and called out, ‘O servants of Allah, there are monkeys—by Allah—with tails, howling!’ He descended, opened the gate, and the people entered. The monkeys recognised their human relatives but did not recognise any kin among the monkeys. A monkey would come to a man and say, ‘Are you so-and-so?’ He would nod, ‘Yes,’ and weep. Likewise a monkey would approach a woman and say, ‘Are you so-and-so?’ She would nod, ‘Yes,’ and weep. They were told, ‘Indeed, we had warned you of Allah’s punishment.’

“Ibn ʿAbbās then recited: ‘So We saved those who forbade evil, and We seized the wrongdoers with a wretched punishment because of their defiant disobedience’ (al-Aʿrāf 165). He continued, ‘I do not know what became of the third faction. How many wrongs have we witnessed yet not forbidden!’ At this Ibn ʿAbbās wept.

ʿIkrimah added, “I said to him, ‘Do you not see, may Allah make me your ransom, that they actually objected and understood, to the point that they said, “Why do you preach to a people whom Allah will destroy or punish with a severe punishment?” (al-Aʿrāf 164).’ My words pleased him, and he ordered that a cloak be given to me.” ⦗152⦘