“So when they defied what they had been forbidden from...

“So when they defied what they had been forbidden from, We said to them: ‘Be you apes scouted’.”*** In this verse, the Qur’ān implies that finally mammonism overwhelmed them and they forgot the command of Allah (s.w.t.), therefore they confronted the bitter moment of punishment.

The verse says: “So when they forgot what they were reminded of, We delivered those who forbade evil and seized those who were unjust with a dreadful punishment for the transgressions they used to commit.” Who Were Delivered? From those three groups of people: (the sinners, the inattentive ones, and the admonishers), only the third group were secured from the punishment of Allah.

As the Islamic traditions indicate, when this group, the third group, saw that their admonishments were not effective in the wrong doers, they became worried and said that they would go out of the city. They left the city at night and went into the desert. Accidentally, by that very night, the retribution of Allah befell upon the couple of the abovementioned groups who were inside the city.

The sort of their retribution is explained in the second verse of the above verses as follows: “So when they defied what they had been forbidden from, We said to them: ‘Be you apes scouted’.” It is clear that the commandment saying ‘Be you’ , here, is a genetic command, which means they changed immediately in the shape of ‘apes’.

“And (remember) when your Lord proclaimed that He would surely send against them, until the Day of Resurrection, those who would inflict on them a grievous punishment. Verily your Lord is certainly quick to requite (evil), and verily He is Forgiving, Merciful.”*** This verse and the verse after it point to a part of the worldly retributions of those Jewish people who stood against the commandments of Allah and trod on the truth, justice, and honesty.