Translation of the meanings Ayah 163 Surah Al-A‘rāf - English Translation - Dr. Waleed Bleyhesh Omary - The Noble Qur'an Encyclopedia

Ayah: 163

وَسۡـَٔلۡهُمۡ عَنِ ٱلۡقَرۡيَةِ ٱلَّتِي كَانَتۡ حَاضِرَةَ ٱلۡبَحۡرِ إِذۡ يَعۡدُونَ فِي ٱلسَّبۡتِ إِذۡ تَأۡتِيهِمۡ حِيتَانُهُمۡ يَوۡمَ سَبۡتِهِمۡ شُرَّعٗا وَيَوۡمَ لَا يَسۡبِتُونَ لَا تَأۡتِيهِمۡۚ كَذَٰلِكَ نَبۡلُوهُم بِمَا كَانُواْ يَفۡسُقُونَ

(163) And ask them ˹Muhammad˺^[1803] about the seaside town; they ˹its people˺ used to transgress on the Sabbath. Their ˹large˺ fish used to come to them forthrightly on their Sabbath, but when they were not observing the Sabbath, they ˹the fish˺ would not come to them. Thus we tested them for their contravening.

[1803] This is yet another act of contravention some of them committed. That Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was directly told to ask his contemporary Jewish community about this jealously guarded embarrassing secret of theirs, was to further prove to them the Divine source of his Message (cf. al-Shinqīṭī, al-ʿAdhb al-Namīr, Ibn ʿĀshūr). This is the most detailed account of this story that was only hinted at elsewhere (cf. 2: 65-66 and 4: 154).