People of the Sabbath
Nation of the Quran
People of the Sabbathأصحاب السبت
Traditional date, disputedAylah (Aqaba), one opinion
A town of Bani Israil by the sea was forbidden to fish on the Sabbath. The fish came to them openly on the Sabbath and not on other days (7:163), so some found ways around the law. Some townspeople warned them, and others asked why they bothered to warn a people Allah would punish (7:164).
What does the Quran say?
And ask them about the town that was by the sea - when they transgressed in [the matter of] the sabbath - when their fish came to them openly on their sabbath day, and the day they had no sabbath they did not come to them. Thus did We give them trial because they were defiantly disobedient.
Quran 7:163
How did they end?
Those who defied the command were turned into despised apes, and those who forbade the evil were saved (7:165-166).
What do historians say?
The Quran does not name the town; commentators often say Aylah, at today's Aqaba, where Roman and early Islamic towns have been excavated. Nothing found there relates to the story.
The lesson
A trick to get around Allah's law is still disobedience.
Who else is linked?
Everyone and everything in the timeline
People named in the Quran and the hadith, the Prophet's ﷺ family and Companions, scholars, rulers, the nations of the Quran, the world's empires and the places where it all happened. Where scholars differ, each entry says so.
Nations of the Quran
- People of Nuh
- Ad
- Thamud
- People of Lut
- Madyan
- Companions of the Thicket
- Companions of the Rass
- People of Tubba
- Saba (Sheba)
- Bani Israil
- People of Firaun
- People of Yunus
- The city of the Sleepers
- Companions of the Ditch
- Companions of the Elephant
- People of the Sabbath
- Yajuj and Majuj
- Quraysh
- Thaqif
- Hawazin
- Aws and Khazraj (the Ansar)
- The Romans (Rum)
- The Persians
- People of Ibrahim
- Jurhum
- People of Ilyas
- People of the Town (Ya-Sin)
- The Sabians
- The Magians (Majus)