What is the meaning of the saying of Allah the Exalted: “And you know those who transgressed among you on the Sabbath, so We said to them, ‘Be you apes, degraded’”?

Question:
The questioner asks: Allah the Exalted said: What is the interpretation of this verse? And is there a group of people who were transformed into monkeys and pigs?

Answer:
The story of the Sabbath is well known. Allah forbade the Jews from hunting, specifically fishing, on the Sabbath. So they devised a trick for it; they set their nets and dug a pit in which the fish would fall on the Sabbath, and they would take them on Sunday. This was a trick to circumvent what Allah had forbidden. When they tricked their way around what Allah had forbidden, Allah transformed them into apes and pigs. He transformed them into apes: “Be you apes, degraded.” He transformed them from human beings into apes, but they did not leave any offspring, because the transformed ones do not leave offspring. They perished; this group that was turned into apes perished and left no offspring.