And ask them about the town that was by the sea - when they transgressed in [the matter of] the sabbath - when their fish came to them openly on their sabbath day, and the day they had no sabbath they did not come to them. Thus did We give them trial because they were defiantly disobedient. 163 When a Section of them said: "Why do you admonish a people whom God is about to destroy or to punish severely?" They replied: "To clear ourselves of blame before your Lord, and that they may fear God. 164 Therefore, when they forgot that of which they were reminded, We saved those who were forbidding evil, and seized the evildoers with an evil punishment for that which they used to do of evil. 165 and then, when they disdainfully persisted in doing what they had been forbidden to do, We said unto them: "Be as apes despicable!" 166 (Muhammad), consider, when your Lord declared to the (Israelites) His decision to raise a people above them who would make them suffer the worst kinds of torments until the Day of Judgment. Certainly your Lord's retribution is swift. He is All-forgiving and All-merciful. 167 And We cut them up on the earth into parties, (some) of them being righteous and (others) of them falling short of that, and We tried them with blessings and misfortunes that they might turn. 168 Then there came after them an evil posterity who inherited the Book, taking only the frail good of this low life and saying: It will be forgiven us. And if the like good came to them, they would take it (too). Was not a promise taken from them in the Book that they would not speak anything about Allah but the truth, and they have read what is in it; and the abode of the hereafter is better for those who guard (against evil). Do you not then understand? 169 As to those who hold fast by the Book and establish regular prayer,- never shall We suffer the reward of the righteous to perish. 170 ۞ And (remember) when We raised the mountain over them as if it had been a canopy, and they thought that it was going to fall on them. (We said): "Hold firmly to what We have given you [i.e. the Taurat (Torah)], and remember that which is therein (act on its commandments), so that you may fear Allah and obey Him." 171