An-Nahl 124: The day of Saturday (Sabbath) was only made (obligatory) for those who disputed it. On the Day of Judgment, your Lord will judge among them regarding the thing they argued over.

Surah An-Nahl, verse 124: The Sabbath was only made obligatory for those who differed over it.

The Sabbath — when it says that: for the people of the Sabbath, regarding fishing in the sea, on Saturdays there was a ban on fishing. Because of the people's rebelliousness, Allah Almighty placed a ban on them. He said: You shall not fish on Saturday. On the other six days, fish on whichever day you like. Then, for six days, there are no fish in the sea. On Saturday, the fish come in shoals. With this rush of fish, because of the Saturday ban, they cannot catch any fish. Then some among them — in one narration, the accursed one in human form — make them a proposal. Build a breakwater. On Saturday, when there are fish in the sea, close off the breakwater, close that place off.

And fish on the other days, he says. Thereupon they adopt this idea. They build a breakwater. Their (?) — I mean their learned men, their scholars — tell them: The trick you are playing is evil. Toward Allah's command, you are (?). We will build a wall between us and you, they say. Then they say: Why are you building a wall? If Allah sends you a calamity, he says, at least let it not come to us, he says. And while they are completing the breakwater, the rabbis are completing their own wall. Meanwhile, every week (?) they admonish them. People even say: Why do you admonish them? These are a people who will not listen, they say.

And their learned men say this: It may be, he says, that Allah sends them a calamity. He will say: Why did you not admonish them? He will destroy us along with them. That is why we fulfil our duty of enjoining what is right, he says. In this way they would admonish them every week. Then one day, when they had built and completed the breakwater and were catching, that is, catching fish on another day, Allah Almighty turns their forms into apes. Again, when the scholars, the learned men, who were (?) about this, to admonish them go down to the town, they see that the people in the town, in the form of apes — that is, they have all become apes, and tears are flowing from their eyes.

They live for about three days, then they perish. Yes: The Sabbath was only made obligatory for those who differed over it. On the Day of Resurrection your Lord will surely judge between them concerning what they differed over. Because certain things were made obligatory for the Jews on Saturdays, the Jews regarded Saturday as a festival and a day of rest for themselves. Yet Moses (peace be upon him) urged the Children of Israel to leave their work on Fridays and on that day, to Allah Almighty, to devote themselves in obedience and worship. They objected to this. They said: We will make Saturday, on which Allah Almighty did not create, a festival for ourselves.

The Christians, for their part, accept Sunday. Both of these groups opposed the Friday that Allah commanded and did not accept it. The point is not any particular day of the week. The day that Allah, the Glorious and Most Holy, has shown — shown and commanded — is the accepted one. Therefore, by honouring the Friday indicated by the Prophet (peace be upon him), Muslims show their submission to Allah's commands. On Friday, at the Friday hour, that is, at the noon prayer, leaving work and business, leaving worldly things behind, they honour Allah's call and the Friday prayer performed once a week.

This is the meaning of the verse here. In what I told you a moment ago, there are, separately, also the people of the Sabbath. That was the situation of those people of the Sabbath. Their forms were turned into apes. In this verse, "the Sabbath only for those who differed over it" means: not Friday, but saying "we make Saturday our festival", and on Saturdays acting outside Allah's command — their acting that way. That is what it says here. And we have explained it that way.