Page 42 - How Do The Unwise Interpret The Qur'an ?

HOW DO THE UNWISE INTERPRET THE QUR'AN?

they broke the Sabbath – when their fish came to
them near the surface on their Sabbath day but did
not come on the days which were not their Sabbath.
In this way We put them to the test because they
were deviators. (Surat al-A'raf: 163)

This prohibition about working on Saturdays that was imposed
on the Jews in the past was not asked of Muslims. This shows that
the ban was not imposed because of any social threat or because
the fish which swarmed towards the city that day were in any way
hazardous, but was simply to put the Jews to the test. Additionally,
the same verse states that they disobeyed the ban and so failed the
test. This prohibition served to exhibit the weaknesses in that
nation's faith and fear of God.
A similar prohibition stated in the Qur'an carries a similar
purpose and is a means of assessment of true believers:
You who have faith! God will test you with game
animals which come within the reach of your hands

and spears, so that God will know those who fear Him
in the Unseen. Anyone who oversteps the limits after
this will have a painful punishment. You who have
faith! Do not kill game while you are forbidden (this
while on Pilgrimage). If one of you kills any
deliberately, the reprisal for it is a livestock animal
equivalent to what he killed, as judged by two just men
among you, a sacrifice to reach the Ka'ba, or expiation
by feeding the poor, or fasting commensurate with
that, so that he may taste the evil consequences of
what he did. God has pardoned all that took place in
the past; but if anyone does it again God will take
revenge on him. God is Almighty, Exactor of Revenge.

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