“Be You Monkeys Despised”
Verse 2.65:
وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ الَّذِينَ اعْتَدَوْا مِنْكُمْ فِي السَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا قِرَدَةً خَاسِئِينَ 65.
Trnsliteration:
65. Walaqad AAalimtumu allatheena iAAtadaw minkum fee alssabti faqulna lahum koonoo qiradatan khasi-eena
Translation:
65. And you did indeed know those of you who committed transgression on Sabbath73. So We told them, “Be you monkeys, despised!”
Comments:
73. The dictionary informs us that Sabbath is the religious day of rest kept by Christians on Sunday and by Jews on Saturday. The Qur’aan informs us, in verse 4.154, that the Jews were specifically commanded not to transgress the strict observance of their Sabbath. That is, they were asked to take an obligatory rest from usual pursuits for earning worldly wealth. In verse 7.163, the Qur’aan further informs us how a township of Jewish fishermen were put to a test, by making the fish in the sea more easily available, for catching, on the day they observed Sabbath, than on other days! The fishermen failed in the trial and committed transgression. It is this transgression that is alluded to here.
Verse 2.66:
جَعَلْنَاهَا نَكَالًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهَا وَمَا خَلْفَهَا وَمَوْعِظَةً لِلْمُتَّقِينَ 66
Transliteration:
66. FajaAAalnaha nakalan lima bayna yadayha wama khalfaha wamawAAithatan lilmuttaqeena
Translation:
66. We set it then as an exemplary punishment for those present at that time and for those who lived thereafter.74 And We made it a lesson for the pious!75 & 76
Comments:
74. We have seen earlier, in verse 63 of this Chaper, that Allah raised the Mountain over Moses’ people to coerce them into abiding by the Book of Allah given to Moses. Here is another method adopted by Allah to coerce the recalcitrant Jews. The punishment meted out to the fishermen breaking the Sabbath Law was made an example of, to warn off the other Jews against breaking any divine commandment.
75. During the pre-historic times before the advent of the Last Prophet (peace and Allah’s blessings be upon him), Allah sent direct signs for the people to recognise prophets sent to them. HE also gave direct signs to warn them against disobedience of divine Law. This is what we learn from various anecdotes mentioned in the Qur’aan. The direct signs were given obviously to compensate those people for the lack of means to acquisition of knowledge that Mankind now enjoys. We cannot but marvel at the tremendous divine sense of justice in this! So we do not witness those direct divine signs now. But we do witness indirect signs of warnings. Like the ignominious state of Muslims all over the world at present. It’s a divine sign warning us against our neglect and disobedience of the divine commands contained in the Qur’aan (see also Chapter note 70 above). And in the Qur’aan itself, the caring hand of our Caretaker can be seen, as here in this verse, asking the pious to take a lesson from past history.
76. The pious amongst the present-day Muslims do have to take a lesson from this episode in Jewish history. For, the Qur’aan too prescribes abstaining from our worldly affairs for a short period on Fridays. In verses 62.9 and 62.10, Allah commands the Believers to leave off business from the time the Muazzin gives the call for the Friday noon prayers till the end of the prayers. If we flout this command, Allah may not now turn us into apes, but our aakhira is bound to be ruined! And, despised like apes we already are; we may further be despised in this very world!
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The above is an extract from webpage Qur’aanic Studies - Volume I. I had to rebuild the page, with much difficulty, after my earlier webhosts cheated me by deleting my entire data of 17 Volumes of the Studies, without informing me. I have yet to reconstruct the other 16 Volumes.