Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 65 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:65

وَلَقَدْ عَلِمْتُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱعْتَدَوْا۟ مِنكُمْ فِى ٱلسَّبْتِ فَقُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا۟ قِرَدَةً خَـٰسِـِٔينَ

“And you had already known about those who transgressed among you concerning the sabbath, and We said to them, "Be apes, despised."”

Saheeh International

Essence

A village that fished the Sabbath through a loophole was told 'Be apes': a likeness of humanity for a likeness of obedience.

A reflection

You cannot outwit the One who says 'Be'

A fraudster finds a gap in a bank's checks and moves money through it for months. He is proud of his own cleverness. What he does not know is that the bank's system logged every step from the first day. The only person fooled was him.

The people of the Sabbath village thought they had found such a gap. Fishing was forbidden on the Sabbath. So they dug channels and pools, or set nets on the eve of the Sabbath. Then they collected the catch the day after. Technically, no one fished on the Sabbath.

Then comes the reply: 'We said to them: Be apes, khāsiʾīn'. A classical theologian notes that this is not an order they could carry out. It expresses how instantly Allah's will takes effect, like 'Be, and it is' (16:40). They had schemed for weeks. He needed one word.

Khāsiʾīn pictures a dog shooed away from the door with one sharp word, slinking off and kept at a distance. Those who tried to slip round His limits were pushed to the outside.

There is a kind of arrogance in every loophole. It assumes the Lawgiver did not see this coming, that a clever enough person can step round the intent while keeping the letter. The ayah humbles that pride completely. Allah does not need to out-argue anyone. He knows the intention before the first spade goes into the sand.

When we catch ourselves building a careful justification for something we know He dislikes, this ayah is worth recalling. The question is never whether we can make it technically allowed. It is whether we really think we can fool the One who says 'Be'.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.