Companions of the Sabbath
They were one of the people who adhered to the religion of the Torah, in that the Sabbath day was forbidden at that time, and it was forbidden to fish in the sea, as well as all industries, trade, and earning. The place of Ayla is now the area of Aqaba, as mentioned by Yaqut al-Hamawi Ayla is a city on the coast of the Sea of Qalazm - which is now the Red Sea - from what follows the Levant, and it is said that it is the last of the Hejaz and the first of the Levant, which is the area where the most recent of these stories took place.
One of the most terrifying stories in the Qur'an is the story of the owners of the Sabbath: The Jews whom God turned into monkeys and pigs because they disobeyed his command by hunting on the Sabbath, the day on which they were forbidden to hunt. “Ask them about the village that was present at the sea when they transgressed on the Sabbath.” Surat al-A'raf. The simple story is that God commanded the people of the village to make the Sabbath a feast day, on which they would remember God and devote themselves to worshiping Him and not engage in any worldly work, and the people of the village were engaged in fishing, so fishing was forbidden for them on the Sabbath.
The Jews did not work on the Sabbath, but devoted themselves to the worship of God. God made it obligatory for them not to engage in worldly affairs on the Sabbath after they asked Him to set aside a day for them to rest and worship, with no work other than approaching God with different types of worship.
God's Sunnah in His creation was fulfilled. It was time for a test. A test of their patience and following God's law. A test of their patience and following God's law. Their souls are trained to abandon greed and covetousness, and to withstand temptations.
God Almighty tested them by making the whales come to the coast on Saturday and appear to the people of the village, so that it would be easy to catch them. Then they stayed away for the rest of the week. A group of people became discouraged, and they resorted to tricks - in the manner of the Jews - and started fishing on the Sabbath. They did not catch the fish directly, but set up barriers and holes, and if the whales came, they surrounded them on Saturday, and then caught them on Sunday. This deception was tantamount to fishing, which was forbidden to them.
The villagers were divided into three groups. A disobedient band that hunted by trickery. One group does not disobey God and takes a positive stance on what is happening, commanding what is good, forbidding deception, and warning violators of God's wrath. A third group, passive, does not disobey God but does not forbid deception.
The third group would argue with the prohibitionist group and say to them, “What is the use of your advice to these disobedient people? What is the use of advising these disobedient people? They will not succeed in their fraud, and God will inflict a painful punishment on them because of their actions. There is no point in warning them after Allah has decreed their destruction for violating His sanctities.
With the firmness of a believer who knows his duties, the deniers of deceit answered: We are doing our duty in enjoining what is good and denying what is wrong, so that we may please Allah and have no argument on the Day of Resurrection. Perhaps these words would help, and they would come to their senses and abandon their disobedience.
After the fraudulent disobedient people became arrogant, and the words of the believers did not help them, God's command came, and the disobedient people were punished. God punished the disobedient and spared those who enjoin the good and forbid the evil. As for the third group, who did not disobey God but did not forbid cunning, the Qur'anic text is silent about them. Sayyid Qutb (may Allah have mercy on him) says: “Perhaps in order to trivialize their affair - even though they were not subjected to the punishment - because they did not engage in positive denial and stood at the limits of negative denial. So they deserved to be neglected, even if they did not deserve to be punished.”
There is no religion but God has given them a special day of worship.
A special day of worship on which to worship.
God chose Friday for the children of Israel to worship.
to be their weekly feast day.
Because God created the heavens and the earth in six days
The last of which was Friday.
They said, “O Moses! We don't want Friday
Ask your Lord to change this day for us
and make another day for us to devote ourselves to obedience
and leave our worldly business.
Musa, peace be upon him, said: O people, fear Allah, listen and obey.
Allah has chosen Friday for you.
They said: “O Moses! We have no need for this day.
Pray to your Lord to change this day for us.
so that we may worship Him on it with a satisfied soul.
Allah commanded him to let them choose a day for themselves.
on which they would meet and worship Allah Almighty.
So they all met ...
They chose the Sabbath day.
Then they told Moses, peace be upon him, about it.
Moses, peace be upon him, said to them: You have chosen this day.
So Allah made it obligatory for you.
You will worship on it and abandon worldly work and various trades such as commerce, industry, agriculture, fishing and other professions.
Moses, peace be upon him, used to give his advice and sermons to his people on Saturdays.
The punishment was severe. God mutilated them and turned them into monkeys as punishment for their persistent transgression.
Some narrations tell that one day the prohibitionists were in their councils and none of the transgressors came out. They were astonished and went to see what was the matter. They found that the transgressors had become monkeys. The monkeys knew their genealogy from the humans, and the humans did not know their genealogy from the monkeys; so the monkeys came to their human relatives and sniffed their clothes and cried: Didn't we forbid you! And she would nod her head yes.