at their courtyards and their doors. Then, Satan inspired them, saying: "You have only been forbidden from eating them on the Sabbath day, so take them on that day and eat them on any other day."

His saying, the Almighty: "And the day they had no Sabbath, they did not come to them"

8448 - My father told us, al-Hasan ibn al-Rabi' told us, 'Abd Allah ibn Idris told us, Muhammad ibn Ishaq told us, Dawud ibn al-Husayn narrated to me, from 'Ikrimah, from Ibn 'Abbas, regarding the saying of Allah the Almighty: "And the day they had no Sabbath, they did not come to them"—he said: When the Sabbath passed, they would depart and not be seen until the same time of the coming Sabbath.

8449 - My father told us, Abu Salih, the scribe of al-Layth, told us, Mu'awiyah ibn Salih narrated to me, from 'Ali ibn Talhah, from Ibn 'Abbas, regarding His saying: "And the day they had no Sabbath, they did not come to them." So Allah forbade the fish to them on their Sabbath day. The fish would come to them on their Sabbath day appearing on the seashore, then when the Sabbath day passed, they could not reach them. They remained in that state as long as Allah willed.

His saying, the Almighty: "Thus do We test them for what they used to disobey"

8450 - Ibrahim ibn Hani' al-Naysaburi Abu Ishaq told us, 'Affan ibn Muslim told us, Mubarak ibn Fadalah told us, who said: I heard al-Hasan reciting this verse: "And ask them about the town that was by the sea" up to His saying: "Thus do We test them for what they used to disobey." Al-Hasan said: When a people commit an evil deed, the trial is ordained for them so that they may be destroyed through it. Their fish would come on the Sabbath day, appearing on the surface of the water, as if they were pregnant, in their size and fatness. But when the sun set on the Sabbath day, no fish was seen for seven days. This became difficult for them, so they said: "We shall take them on the Sabbath day, make sure they do not escape, and eat them on Sunday, for we were only forbidden from eating them on the Sabbath day." Al-Hasan said: By Allah, they ate the most disastrous meal any people have ever eaten; it was the most immediate in punishment in this world and the most enduring in disgrace in the Hereafter.

His saying, the Almighty: "For what they used to disobey"

8451 - Hajjaj ibn Hamzah told us, Shababah told us, Warqa' told us, from Ibn Abi Najih, from Mujahid, regarding His saying: "For what they used to disobey"—meaning they took them on the Sabbath day as a matter of licit action and disobedience.