"The words of the Almighty: {Corruption has appeared throughout the land and sea by [reason of] what the hands of people have earned so He may let them taste part of [the consequence of] what they have done that perhaps they will return} 1 . He says: The metamorphosed structures (al-Hayakil al-Masukhiyyah) of the creatures of the sea and land appeared as a punishment for the sins they earned while in human structures (al-Hayakil al-Nasutiyyah), that perhaps they might return from their disbelief and rebellion against the Oneness of Allah.
[55] From al-Hasan ibn al-Husayn al-Firari, from 'Ammar ibn Zahir, from al-Washā', from Asad, from Muhammad ibn Dawud ibn Kathir, reaching al-Mufaddal ibn 'Umar—peace be upon him—from the Scholar—may His Might be exalted: "A group from the Children of Israel followed the religion of one of the prophets of the Children of Israel. Then they altered and changed that religion; they had been upon the truth, but they abandoned the truth and followed falsehood, practicing it. When they abandoned the truth, they were metamorphosed into frogs.