﴿ فَلَمَّا عَتَوْا۟ عَن مَّا نُهُوا۟ عَنْهُ قُلْنَا لَهُمْ كُونُوا۟ قِرَدَةً خَٰسِـِٔينَ ﴾

“and then, when they disdainfully persisted in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We said unto them: "Be as apes despicable!"”

This was the fate of those who contravened the rule of the Sabbath. But ‘God made them apes,’ does not mean that their faces became the faces of apes; it means that their character became ape-like; their hearts and thinking were like those of apes instead of human beings. (Tafsir al-Qurtubi). Now, man’s becoming an ape means that he becomes so insensitive after taking action again and again against the dictates of his wisdom and conscience, that any fine feelings are completely driven out of him. Whatever desire takes shape in his heart, he puts it into action. Whenever anyone comes into his ambit, he will attack his honour and property. If he has a complaint against anybody, he will immediately set about degrading that person. If he has any differences with anybody, he will start denigrating him. If he finds somebody to be an impediment in his way, he will immediately start fighting with him. A true man is one who applies the bridle of God to himself, and an ape is one who unrestrictedly starts doing whatever his base self asks him to do. Preventing others from doing evil is, in fact, a way of proclaiming that one has discharged one’s responsibility. So, when God’s scourge falls upon a group, those people who are extremely disgusted with evil, to the extent of becoming its preventers, are saved from this punishment. A human being is a creature into whom the Creator has infused intelligence and conscience. In a human being when some desire takes shape, his wisdom and conscience immediately becomes activated and the question arises as to whether the fulfillment of that desire is proper or not. In the case of an ape, however, there is no impediment between his wish and its fulfillment. Whatever comes into his mind he immediately does it. It is not necessary for him to think about his wish, nor need he be ashamed after pursuing it.