SABBATH

The term used in the Qurʾān for the Jewish Sabbath is Sabt ( سبت‎ ), a corruption of the Hebrew ‏שַׁבָּת‎ Shabbāth . It occurs five times in the Qurʾān:— Sūrah ii. 61 : “Ye know, too, those of you who transgre ed on the Sabbath, and to whom We (God) said, ‘Become scouted apes.’ ” Sūrah iv. 50 : “Or curse you as We (God) cursed the Sabbath breakers.” Sūrah iv. 153 : “We (God) said to them (Israel), ‘Break not the Sabbath.’ ” Sūrah vii. 163 : “And ask them (the Jews) about the city that stood by the sea when its inhabitants broke the Sabbath; when their fish came to them appearing openly on their Sabbath-day, but not to them on the day when they kept no Sabbath.” Sūrah xvi. 125 : “The Sabbath was only ordained for those who differed about it.” In explanation of these verses, the commentator, al-Baiẓāwī relates the following traditions. Moses gave orders for the observance of the Day of Rest on Friday; but the Jews would not obey, and declared that they would observe Saturday, as it was on that day that God rested from creation, so it came to pa that “the Sabbath was ordained for those who differed about it.” But in the time of King David, certain people began to break the Sabbath by fishing in the Red Sea near the town of Ailah (Elath), and as a punishment they were turned into apes. For an account of the Muḥammadan Sabbath, see FRIDAY .