8452 - Abu Zur'ah told us, Safwan told us, al-Walid told us, Sa'id ibn Bashir told us, from Qatadah regarding His saying: "For what they used to disobey"—meaning for what they used to commit of acts of disobedience.

It was narrated from al-Hasan regarding "For what they used to disobey" that it means for the acts of disobedience they used to commit before that.

8453 - Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas told us, 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Salamah told us, Salamah told us, from Muhammad ibn Ishaq regarding "Thus do We test them for what they used to disobey"—meaning for what they intentionally committed against My command.

His saying, the Almighty: "And when a faction among them said, 'Why do you advise a people whom Allah is to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?'"

8454 - 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, who said: Then a man among them took a fish, pierced it with a string, drove a stake for it on the shore, tied it up, and left it in the water. When the next day came, he arrived, took it, and ate it secretly. They did this while others were looking at them, not forbidding them, except for a remnant among them who used to forbid them. When this appeared openly in the markets, a group said to those who were forbidding them: "Why do you advise a people whom Allah is to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?" They said: "To be free from blame before your Lord, and perhaps they may become righteous."

8455 - Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Uthman al-Dimashqi mentioned, Muhammad ibn Shu'ayb ibn Shabur told us, 'Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak informed me that he heard Abu Bakr al-Hudhali and 'Abd al-Malik ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz ibn Jurayj al-Makki narrating from 'Ikrimah, the freed slave of Ibn 'Abbas, from Ibn 'Abbas, who said: 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." A group among them said this, and a group said: "Rather, you were forbidden from eating them, driving them away, and hunting them on the Sabbath day." One group sat with themselves, their wives, and their sons, while one group withdrew to the right and forbade them, and one group withdrew to the left and remained silent. Those who were forbidding them said: "Woe to you! Fear Allah! Woe to you! Allah forbids you from exposing yourselves to punishment." And [the others] said: "Why do you advise a people whom Allah is to destroy or to punish with a severe punishment?"

His saying, the Almighty: "They said, 'To be free from blame before your Lord'"

8456 - My father told us, al-Hasan ibn al-Rabi' told us, 'Abd Allah ibn Idris informed us, Muhammad ibn Ishaq told us, Dawud ibn al-Husayn narrated to me, from 'Ikrimah, from Ibn 'Abbas, regarding "To be free from blame before your Lord"—meaning for our disapproval of their deeds—"and perhaps they may become righteous."