[2:65] And verily you know that there were those among you who transgressed the Sabbath, and We said to them, 'Be apes, despised!'
The metamorphosis (maskh) of [Muḥammad's] community occurred in the hearts. When [the Children of Israel] abandoned [God's] command and disdained what was imposed on them from the law, the punishments came quickly in their disgrace, metamorphosis, and the other things which are included in the text. In a similar way, the community [of Muḥammad] was punished because of their violation of the Covenant and rejection of the limit [imposed by God], but [their punishment] was in the metamorphosis of their hearts and the alteration of their states. [God] Most High said, 'And We shall confound their hearts and their eyes; just as they did not believe the first time' [6:110]. The punishments of hearts are far worse than the punishments of the bodily selves. About this they have recited:
O you who ask me,
'How have you been after him?'
I suffered that which tormented me,
while it made him happy.
I kept strutting about
in our togetherness
and felt safe from
the ruses of time.
But the turning away from me
went on until
not a bit of what I had
experienced remained.