Remember when We took a pledge from the Children of Israel: ‘Worship none but God; be good to your parents and kinsfolk, to orphans and the poor; speak good words to all people; keep up the prayer and pay the prescribed alms.’ Then all but a few of you turned away and paid no heed. We took a pledge from you, ‘Do not shed one another’s blood or drive one another from your homelands.’ You acknowledged it at the time, and you can testify to this. Yet here you are, killing one another and driving some of your own people from their homes, helping one another in sin and aggression against them. And if they come to you as captives, you ransom them, although their eviction was forbidden to you. So do you believe in part of the Scripture and reject the rest? The punishment for those of you who do this will be nothing but disgrace in this life, and on the Day of Resurrection they will be condemned to the harshest torment: God is not unaware of what you do. These are the people who buy the life of this world at the price of the Hereafter: their torment will not be lightened, nor will they be helped.
— Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow), Ch.2:83-86
Say: "Shall I tell you who, in the sight of God, deserves a worse punishment than that? Those who incurred the curse of God and His wrath, and whom He has turned into apes and pigs and they worshipped the devil: these are far worse in position, and farther astray from the right path (than the mockers)." And when they come to you, they say, "We believe." But they have entered with disbelief (in their hearts), and they have certainly left with it. And God knows what they were hiding. You see many of them racing towards sin, transgression, and consumption of forbidden gain. Evil indeed are their actions! Why do their rabbis and scholars not forbid them from saying what is sinful and consuming what is unlawful? Evil indeed what they have been practicing!
And said (some of) the Jews, "God's hand is shackled!" It is their own hands that are shackled; They are cursed by God for what they have said. Nay, God's hands are open wide; giving freely as He pleases. But that which has been revealed to you from your Lord is sure to increase in many of them transgression and blasphemy. And We have cast among them enmity and hatred untill the Day of the Resurrection. Every time they light the fires of war, God extinguishes it. And they labour hard to spread corruption on earth: and God does not love those who corrupts.
And if only the People of the Book were faithful and feared God, We would have certainly absolved them of their sins and admitted them into the Gardens of Bliss.
— Quran, Surah Al-Maidah (The Table Spread with Food), Ch.5: 60-65
We divided them into twelve tribes—each as a community. And We revealed to Moses, when his people asked for water, “Strike the rock with your staff.” Then twelve springs gushed out. Each tribe knew its drinking place. We shaded them with clouds and sent down to them manna and quails, saying, “Eat from the good things We have provided for you.” They certainly did not wrong Us, but wronged themselves.
And remember when it was said to them, “Enter this city ˹of Jerusalem˺ and eat from wherever you please. Say, ‘Absolve us,’ and enter the gate with humility. We will forgive your sins, ˹and˺ We will multiply the reward for the good-doers.” But the wrongdoers among them changed the words they were commanded to say. So We sent down a punishment from the sky upon them for their wrongdoing.
Ask them ˹O Prophet˺ about ˹the people of˺ the town which by the sea, who broke the Sabbath. During the Sabbath, ˹abundant˺ fish would come to them clearly visible, but on other days the fish were never seen. In this way We tested them for their rebelliousness. When some of ˹the righteous among˺ them questioned ˹their fellow Sabbath-keepers˺, “Why do you ˹bother to˺ warn those ˹Sabbath-breakers˺ who will either be destroyed or severely punished by God?” They replied, “Just to be free from your Lord’s blame, and so perhaps they may abstain.” When they ignored the warning they were given, We rescued those who used to warn against evil and overtook the wrongdoers with a dreadful punishment for their rebelliousness. But when they stubbornly persisted in violation, We said to them, “Be apes! Despised!” And ˹remember, O Prophet,˺ when your Lord declared that He would send against them others who would make them suffer terribly until the Day of Judgment. Indeed, your Lord is swift in punishment, but He is certainly All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.
And we broke them up and scattered them throughout the earth into separate communities—some were righteous, others were the opposite. We tested them with prosperity and adversity, that perhaps they would return ˹to the Right Path˺. Then they were succeeded by other generations who inherited the Scripture. They indulged in unlawful gains, claiming, “We will be forgiven ˹after all˺.” And if similar gain came their way, they would seize it. Was a pledge not taken from them in the Scripture that they would not say anything about God except the truth? And they were already well-versed in its teachings. But the ˹eternal˺ Home of the Hereafter is far better for those who fear God. Will you not use your reason? As for those who firmly abide by the Scripture and establish prayer—surely We never discount the reward of those acting righteously.
— Quran, Surah Al-A'raf (The Heights), Ch.7: 160-170
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