Continuation of the explanation of the statement of Imam al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) regarding what he quoted: "."

The Shaykh : Then he said, regarding the last of the verses that al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) cited in his book *Riyad al-Salihin*, what is the verse? This is the story of the village we referred to yesterday, a village by the sea. Allah forbade them to fish on the day of Saturday and tested them (Mighty and Majestic is He), so the fish would come in great numbers, as prescribed, to the surface of the water on the day of Saturday, and they would not see them on any day other than Saturday. The time dragged on for them, and they said: How can we leave this fish? So they devised a scheme that did not benefit them in the least. They placed nets on the day of Friday, so when the fish came on the day of Saturday, they fell into these nets. Then, when it became the day of Sunday, they took the fish as a scheme. So the punishment from Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He) was that He said to them: He said to them a decree: So they became monkeys. He did not say: "Be donkeys." If He had said: "Be donkeys," they would have been donkeys. But He said: "Be monkeys," because the monkey is the most similar to the human, and their wicked deed is the most similar to what is lawful, because it is a scheme. One who looks at it superficially would say: They did not fish on the day of Saturday, they did not catch fish on the day of Saturday; they placed the nets on the day of Friday and took them on the day of Sunday, so its appearance is the appearance of what is lawful.