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fa-baddala lladhīna ẓalamū minhum qawlan ghayra lladhī qīla lahum fa-ʾarsalnā ʿalayhim rijzan mina s-samāʾi bi-mā kānū yaẓlimūna
But the wrongdoers changed the saying with other than what they had been told. So We sent against them a plague from the sky because of the wrongs they used to commit.
— Ali Quli Qarai
Surah al-‘Araf – Verse 162
162 . “But those of them who were unjust changed a saying other than that which had been spoken unto them; so We sent upon them a torment from heaven for they had been doing injustice.”
Sometimes perversion and changing the meanings are made manifestly, as the change of an utterance; and sometimes the frame of an utterance is preserved, but the content and spirit of that subject is changed. The example of the latter is the trick of the Children of Israel for catching fish on the Sabbath, (which will be dealt with in the next verse). The verse says:
The Qur’ān refers to three kinds of perversion which were performed in the Law of Allah:
1) A pertinacious perversion, like the manner of the Children of Israel who, instead of saying /hittah/ (seeking for forgiveness and remission), said /hintah/ (wheat).
2) A change done deceitfully, like the action accomplished by the Children of Israel when they made some pools in the bank of the sea wherein fish came on the Sabbath,
3) and they hunted them on Sunday. They said they had
4) not hunted fish on the Sabbath. But regarding this subject, Surah Al-Baqarah, No. 2, verse 65 says:
“And certainly you have known those among you who exceeded the limits on the Sabbath…”
5) A change for their own benefit, like postponing the sacred months in the Age of Ignorance in order to carry on their fight. Since they did not like to cease fighting because of adapting with sacred months, they postponed the months. Then, the verse was revealed, saying
Thus, the punishment of changing the commandments of Allah is His Wrath and chastisement. The verse says:
And we should know that the fates of human beings are in their own authority, and that these punishments are the fruit of their own sins and transgressions. The verse continues says: