Who Was The Sabbath-breakers? The town by the sea in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Shuayb

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Bani Israil and Romec. 1000 BCE – 250 CE

Arabia before IslamUp to 570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1000 CE

Crusades and conquests1090–1502 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

Isa ibn Maryam descends
A landslide in the east
A landslide in the west
A landslide in Arabia
The smoke
The sun rises from the west
The Beast of the earth
A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history24 / 76

أصحاب السبت

The Sabbath-breakers

The town by the seaTime of Dawud (traditional)

Relied onA trick to get around the law

Undone byTheir own shape

A town of Bani Israil by the sea was forbidden to fish on the Sabbath, and the fish came openly on that day. So they set their nets on the Sabbath and pulled them in the next day, calling it obedience.

How it ended

Those who warned them were saved. The rest were told: 'Be apes, despised' (7:166).

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

The lessonA trick that keeps the letter of the law and breaks its purpose is still disobedience.

In the Quran

2:65-66 4:154 5:78 7:163-166

Stood against
Source: Named in the QuranIbn Abbas is reported to place the town at Aylah, near today's Aqaba. Most commentators say the change was real; Mujahid said it was of their hearts. Some link them to 5:78, cursed 'by the tongue of Dawud'.

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.