Critical Analysis of Tafsīr al-Manār’s View on the Deformation (Transformation, Metamorphosis) of the People of Sabbath

There are two views on the metamorphosis (transformation, deformation) of the people of Sabbath that most of the scholars and commentators (exegetes) believe in physical (bodily) metamorphosis and a small group relying on the narration of Mujāhid Tābi‘ī believes in spiritual metamorphosis. Muḥammad ʿAbduh and Rashīd Riḍā in Tafsīr al-Manār [A commentary on Quran] with a rational approach to commentary and emphasis on the guiding aspect of the Qur'an in the present age, while denying the apparent of the Noble Qur'an by relying on the tradition with a single narrator (Arabic: خبر واحد, Romanized: Khbār wāḥid) narrated by Mujāhid and ignoring the philosophy of metamorphosis, once again strengthen the belief in spiritual metamorphosis. The present research has analyzed and criticized the arguments and reasons presented by the authors of al-Manār by library sources and based on Quranic verses, narrations, lexical meanings and the opinion of all Shiite and Sunni scholars. The findings show that the evidence presented in al-Manār in order to believe in spiritual metamorphosis are contrary to the apparent of Qur'anic verses, numerous ḥadiths of two sects and the precedent of scholars (Arabic: السیره العلماء, Romanized: as-Sīrat ol-‘Alamā, Sīrah), and physical (bodily) metamorphosis is more compatible with the purpose of the doom (punishment) of metamorphosis.