REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA — Jews often break their promise to Allah SWT. For example, their promise to glorify Saturday by not doing worldly affairs.
However, the Jews broke the promise for the umpteenth time. Then Allah said to them, “Be ye a despicable ape.”
وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱعْتَدَوْا۟ مِنكُمْ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا۟ قِرَدَةً خَٰسِـِٔينَ
Wa laqad 'alimtumullażīna'tadau mingkum fis-sabti fa qulnā lahum kụnụ qiradatan khāsi`īn
“Surely you knew those who transgressed among you on the Sabbath, and We said to them, “Be ye humble apes.” (QS Al-Baqarah verse 65).
Tafsir Ibn Katsir explains that Allah says that you (the Jews) have known the punishment that will befall the villagers who disobey Allah's commandments and break His covenant and promise which He has taken from you. That is, you must celebrate the Sabbath and keep His commandments.
It is said that this is because it is promised to the Jews. In the end, however, they created a trick so that they could still hunt fish on Saturday, that is, by laying nets and fish traps before Saturday.
If Saturday came and the fish were as plentiful as usual, the fish were caught by the nets and traps, no fish surviving that Saturday. When night fell, they took the fish after Saturday had passed.
When the Jews did this, God cursed them to be apes. An ape is an animal that is apparently more similar to humans, but apes are not a human type. In other words, so are their deeds and deceit, considering that what they do is outwardly similar to a right thing, but is intrinsically different even the opposite. So the vengeance of being condemned to be apes is a recompense of their own deeds tailored to the type of transgression.
Al-Aufi says in his book of tafsir, from ibn Abbas, in connection with his words in Surah Al-Baqarah Verse 65. Allah made some of them (the Children of Israel) apes and pigs. It is alleged that the young men from among them were condemned to be apes, while the elderly were condemned to be pigs.
Shayban An-Nahwi narrates from Qatadah in regard to the meaning of this verse, “Then We said to them, 'Be ye wicked apes'.” This means that the Jews became apes with tails, previously they were men made up of men and women.
Ibn Abu Hatim narrates, has told us Ali ibn Hasan, has told us Abdullah ibn Muhammad ibn Rabi'ah in Masisiyyah, has told us Muhammad ibn Muslim (that is, At-Taifi), of Ibn Abu Nujayah, of Mujahid, of Ibn Abbas who says, “Truly the fate that befalls those who hunt on Saturday is their were cursed to be real apes, then they were destroyed so that there would be no offspring.”
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