Quranic theme
breakers
8 verses
In a coastal town, residents watched their livelihood swim to the water's surface exclusively on their designated day of rest, vanishing entirely on weekdays (7:163). This sudden abundance of fish was a deliberate test from God, brought upon the people because of their ongoing disobedience. The Prophet was instructed to ask about this specific town and the events that unfolded there. Previously, these people had taken a solemn pledge beneath a towering mountain, where they were explicitly commanded to enter the gate humbly and not to break the Sabbath (4:154). Yet the temptation of the surfacing fish proved greater than their covenant.
A pattern of broken pledges
The violation of the Sabbath was not an isolated moral lapse. This breach belonged to a broader sequence of severe transgressions. Breaking their solemn pledge stood alongside rejecting God’s revelations and the unjust killing of their prophets (4:155). When confronted with the truth, they responded with defiance, claiming, "Our minds are closed." Their disobedience regarding the fish on the Sabbath was symptomatic of an arrogance that permeated their relationship with divine limits. Because they persisted in doing exactly what they had been forbidden to do, their actions necessitated a severe and permanent response (7:166).
How did the community react?
As the Sabbath-breaking continued, the coastal town fractured into distinct groups. A portion of the community took on the active role of forbidding the evil, directly preaching against the violations. Another faction simply watched the preachers and questioned their efforts, asking why they bothered warning a people whom God was either going to destroy or punish severely (7:164).
The preachers articulated two clear reasons for their intervention: to establish their own innocence and be free from their Lord’s blame, and to hold onto the possibility that the transgressors might finally take heed. Ultimately, the warnings were ignored. In the ensuing judgment, God specifically saved those who actively forbade the evil, while the wrongdoers were struck with a severe punishment for their disobedience (7:165).
What was their punishment?
The physical and spiritual penalties for the town were absolute. To those who broke the covenant, God issued a direct, transforming decree: "Be like apes! Be outcasts!" (2:65). This reality was already known to the Quran's immediate audience, serving as a terrifying precedent. God uses the fate of these Sabbath-breakers as an urgent warning to the People of the Book, demanding they believe in the new revelations that confirm their existing scriptures (4:47).
If they fail to believe, they face having their entire sense of direction wiped out, being turned completely back, or suffering the exact rejection of the Sabbath-breakers. Because they claimed their minds were already closed, God sealed them in their disbelief so they believe only a little, enforcing the absolute reality that God’s will is always done (4:47).
Verses
All 8 verses, in mushaf order.
وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱعْتَدَوْا۟ مِنكُمْ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا۟ قِرَدَةً خَـٰسِـِٔينَ
You know about those of you who broke the Sabbath, and so We said to them, ‘Be like apes! Be outcasts!’
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ءَامِنُوا۟ بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَىٰٓ أَدْبَارِهَآ أَوْ نَلْعَنَهُمْ كَمَا لَعَنَّآ أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلسَّبْتِ ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ ٱللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا
People of the Book, believe in what We have sent down to confirm what you already have before We wipe out [your sense of ] direction, turning you back, or reject you, as We rejected those who broke the Sabbath: God’s will is always done.
وَرَفَعْنَا فَوْقَهُمُ ٱلطُّورَ بِمِيثَـٰقِهِمْ وَقُلْنَا لَهُمُ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ ٱلْبَابَ سُجَّدًا وَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ لَا تَعْدُوا۟ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ وَأَخَذْنَا مِنْهُم مِّيثَـٰقًا غَلِيظًا
We made the mountain tower high above them at their pledge; We said to them, ‘Enter the gate humbly,’ and, ‘Do not break the Sabbath,’ and took a solemn pledge from them.
فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَـٰقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِم بِـَٔايَـٰتِ ٱللَّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ ٱلْأَنۢبِيَآءَ بِغَيْرِ حَقٍّ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌۢ ۚ بَلْ طَبَعَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهَا بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلَا يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا
And so for breaking their pledge, for rejecting God’s revelations, for unjustly killing their prophets, for saying ‘Our minds are closed’- No! God has sealed them in their disbelief, so they believe only a little-
وَسْـَٔلْهُمْ عَنِ ٱلْقَرْيَةِ ٱلَّتِى كَانَتْ حَاضِرَةَ ٱلْبَحْرِ إِذْ يَعْدُونَ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ إِذْ تَأْتِيهِمْ حِيتَانُهُمْ يَوْمَ سَبْتِهِمْ شُرَّعًا وَيَوْمَ لَا يَسْبِتُونَ ۙ لَا تَأْتِيهِمْ ۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَبْلُوهُم بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْسُقُونَ
[Prophet], ask them about the town by the sea; how its people broke the Sabbath when their fish surfaced for them only on that day, never on weekdays- We tested them in this way: because of their disobedience-
وَإِذْ قَالَتْ أُمَّةٌ مِّنْهُمْ لِمَ تَعِظُونَ قَوْمًا ۙ ٱللَّهُ مُهْلِكُهُمْ أَوْ مُعَذِّبُهُمْ عَذَابًا شَدِيدًا ۖ قَالُوا۟ مَعْذِرَةً إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَّقُونَ
how, when some of them asked [their preachers], ‘Why do you bother preaching to people God will destroy, or at least punish severely?’ [the preachers] answered, ‘In order to be free from your Lord’s blame, and so that they may perhaps take heed.’
فَلَمَّا نَسُوا۟ مَا ذُكِّرُوا۟ بِهِۦٓ أَنجَيْنَا ٱلَّذِينَ يَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلسُّوٓءِ وَأَخَذْنَا ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ بِعَذَابٍۭ بَـِٔيسٍۭ بِمَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْسُقُونَ
When they ignored [the warning] they were given, We saved those who forbade evil, and punished the wrongdoers severely because of their disobedience.
فَلَمَّا عَتَوْا۟ عَن مَّا نُهُوا۟ عَنْهُ قُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا۟ قِرَدَةً خَـٰسِـِٔينَ
When, in their arrogance, they persisted in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We said to them, ‘Be like apes! Be outcasts!’