When they persisted in doing what they had been forbidden, We said to them: "Become (like) apes despised."
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Tafseer
'Abdullāh Ibn 'Abbās / Muḥammad al-Fīrūzabādī
تفسير : (so when they took pride in) when they refused to refrain from (that which they had been forbidden, we said unto them: be ye apes despised and loathed!) humiliated and abominated!
Jalāl al-Dīn al-Maḥallī
تفسير : and when they disdained, to desist from, that which was prohibited to them, we said to them, ‘be apes, despised!’, abased, and they became so: this is an explication of what preceded [with regard to the details of their ‘grievous chastisement’]. ibn ‘abbās said, ‘i do not know what befell the group that abstained’. ‘ikrima said, ‘that group was not destroyed because they had been averse to what the others did and had said, ‘why do you preach (admonition) …’ al-hākim reported [in a hadīth] that he [‘ikrima] referred this opinion to ibn ‘abbās, who was delighted by it.
