If Allah the Exalted transforms a people, does He provide them with a means of procreation? And is the transformation literal or figurative?

The questioner : Some people have resorted to a figurative interpretation of the aforementioned hadith regarding slander and transformation. They stated that the pig is known for being a promiscuous animal and the monkey for imitating, so they held that the community becomes one that does not guard its honor and imitates the stranger. Is there any justification for this figurative interpretation?

The Shaykh : There is no justification for such a figurative interpretation other than rational improbability. It is not permissible linguistically, let alone religiously. It is not permissible linguistically, much less religiously, to take any statement away from its apparent meaning unless that meaning is impossible to occur. This is a well-known rule among scholars of language and religion alike: that it is not permissible to interpret a statement figuratively except when the literal meaning of the statement is impossible. The transformation mentioned in this hadith and in other hadiths has a precedent explicitly stated by our Lord, Mighty and Majestic, in the Noble Qur'an. That is the transformation concerning a group of the Jews, where He, Mighty and Majestic, said: . The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) explicitly stated in some hadiths what supports the fact that the transformation that occurred among the Jews, which is mentioned explicitly in the Qur'an in more than one verse, is a literal transformation. Therefore, they did not have offspring. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . And the monkeys and pigs existed before that. In another hadith, , so they have no offspring left. Thus, interpreting the hadiths of transformation as figurative rather than literal has no justification, neither linguistically nor religiously; rather, they are to be taken at their apparent meaning. Yes.