شُعَيْب
Shuayb
A warning against cheating the scale, met with a threat of exile and a prayer for judgment
Shuayb was sent to the people of Madyan, and his call is distinct among the warner-prophets for what it targets: not idolatry alone, but a specific economic injustice — shortchanging people in measure and weight, and spreading corruption on the earth after it had been set right. His people's response moved from dismissal to an outright threat to expel him and the believers with him, and his story closes with his own prayer that God judge between them, followed swiftly by the same shape of destruction that met 'Ad and Thamud before him.
Give full measure and weight in justice
To Madyan, God sent their brother Shuayb. He said: my people, worship God — you have no deity other than Him. Clear evidence has come to you from your Lord, so fulfill the measure and weight and do not deprive people of their due, and do not cause corruption on the earth after its reformation. Elsewhere he adds a simple line of principle: weigh with an even balance, and do not deprive people of their due or spread corruption on the earth — reminding them, too, that God had increased them when they were few, and to remember what became of past corrupters.
وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًۭا ۗ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ ۖ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم بَيِّنَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ فَأَوْفُوا۟ ٱلْكَيْلَ وَٱلْمِيزَانَ وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا۟ ٱلنَّاسَ أَشْيَآءَهُمْ وَلَا تُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلَٰحِهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌۭ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
And to [the people of] Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb. He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you clear evidence from your Lord. So fulfill the measure and weight and do not deprive people of their due and cause not corruption upon the earth after its reformation. That is better for you, if you should be believers.
وَلَا تَقْعُدُوا۟ بِكُلِّ صِرَٰطٍۢ تُوعِدُونَ وَتَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِهِۦ وَتَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًۭا ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ إِذْ كُنتُمْ قَلِيلًۭا فَكَثَّرَكُمْ ۖ وَٱنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ
And do not sit on every path, threatening and averting from the way of Allah those who believe in Him, seeking to make it [seem] deviant. And remember when you were few and He increased you. And see how was the end of the corrupters.
۞ أَوْفُوا۟ ٱلْكَيْلَ وَلَا تَكُونُوا۟ مِنَ ٱلْمُخْسِرِينَ
Give full measure and do not be of those who cause loss.
وَزِنُوا۟ بِٱلْقِسْطَاسِ ٱلْمُسْتَقِيمِ
And weigh with an even balance.
وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا۟ ٱلنَّاسَ أَشْيَآءَهُمْ وَلَا تَعْثَوْا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ
And do not deprive people of their due and do not commit abuse on earth, spreading corruption.
We will surely evict you
The eminent among his people, arrogant, told him plainly: we will surely evict you, Shuayb, and those who believed with you from our city, unless you return to our religion. He answered them: even if we are unwilling? We would be inventing a lie against God if we returned to it after He saved us from it — it is not for us to return to it unless God our Lord wills. Another account records his people's contempt directly: we do not understand much of what you say, and we consider you weak among us — if not for your family, we would have stoned you.
۞ قَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لَنُخْرِجَنَّكَ يَٰشُعَيْبُ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَكَ مِن قَرْيَتِنَآ أَوْ لَتَعُودُنَّ فِى مِلَّتِنَا ۚ قَالَ أَوَلَوْ كُنَّا كَٰرِهِينَ
Said the eminent ones who were arrogant among his people, "We will surely evict you, O Shu'ayb, and those who have believed with you from our city, or you must return to our religion." He said, "Even if we were unwilling?"
قَدِ ٱفْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِى مِلَّتِكُم بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ مِنْهَا ۚ وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَآ أَن نَّعُودَ فِيهَآ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّنَا ۚ وَسِعَ رَبُّنَا كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًا ۚ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا ٱفْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلْفَٰتِحِينَ
We would have invented against Allah a lie if we returned to your religion after Allah had saved us from it. And it is not for us to return to it except that Allah, our Lord, should will. Our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge. Upon Allah we have relied. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who give decision."
قَالُوا۟ يَٰشُعَيْبُ مَا نَفْقَهُ كَثِيرًۭا مِّمَّا تَقُولُ وَإِنَّا لَنَرَىٰكَ فِينَا ضَعِيفًۭا ۖ وَلَوْلَا رَهْطُكَ لَرَجَمْنَٰكَ ۖ وَمَآ أَنتَ عَلَيْنَا بِعَزِيزٍۢ
They said, "O Shu'ayb, we do not understand much of what you say, and indeed, we consider you among us as weak. And if not for your family, we would have stoned you [to death]; and you are not to us one respected."
Decide between us and our people in truth
Shuayb closed his appeal with a prayer rather than a threat: our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge, upon God we have relied — our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who give decision. When they denied him outright, he answered only that his Lord was most knowing of what they did.
قَدِ ٱفْتَرَيْنَا عَلَى ٱللَّهِ كَذِبًا إِنْ عُدْنَا فِى مِلَّتِكُم بَعْدَ إِذْ نَجَّىٰنَا ٱللَّهُ مِنْهَا ۚ وَمَا يَكُونُ لَنَآ أَن نَّعُودَ فِيهَآ إِلَّآ أَن يَشَآءَ ٱللَّهُ رَبُّنَا ۚ وَسِعَ رَبُّنَا كُلَّ شَىْءٍ عِلْمًا ۚ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ تَوَكَّلْنَا ۚ رَبَّنَا ٱفْتَحْ بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَ قَوْمِنَا بِٱلْحَقِّ وَأَنتَ خَيْرُ ٱلْفَٰتِحِينَ
We would have invented against Allah a lie if we returned to your religion after Allah had saved us from it. And it is not for us to return to it except that Allah, our Lord, should will. Our Lord has encompassed all things in knowledge. Upon Allah we have relied. Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth, and You are the best of those who give decision."
قَالَ رَبِّىٓ أَعْلَمُ بِمَا تَعْمَلُونَ
He said, "My Lord is most knowing of what you do."
The punishment of the day of the black cloud
When God's command came, Shuayb and those who believed with him were saved by mercy from God, and the shriek seized those who had wronged, leaving them fallen within their own homes. A separate account names the punishment as the day of the overshadowing cloud, calling it the punishment of a terrible day; a third simply records that the earthquake seized them, and they were left fallen within their homes — the same pattern of rescue for the believers and sudden ruin for those who denied that closed the accounts of 'Ad and Thamud before them.
وَلَمَّا جَآءَ أَمْرُنَا نَجَّيْنَا شُعَيْبًۭا وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ بِرَحْمَةٍۢ مِّنَّا وَأَخَذَتِ ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ ٱلصَّيْحَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا۟ فِى دِيَٰرِهِمْ جَٰثِمِينَ
And when Our command came, We saved Shu'ayb and those who believed with him, by mercy from Us. And the shriek seized those who had wronged, and they became within their homes [corpses] fallen prone
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَخَذَهُمْ عَذَابُ يَوْمِ ٱلظُّلَّةِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ كَانَ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ عَظِيمٍ
And they denied him, so the punishment of the day of the black cloud seized them. Indeed, it was the punishment of a terrible day.
فَكَذَّبُوهُ فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ ٱلرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا۟ فِى دَارِهِمْ جَٰثِمِينَ
But they denied him, so the earthquake seized them, and they became within their home [corpses] fallen prone.