Surah 11. Hud, Ayah 84
| ۞ وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا ۚ قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُ ۖ وَلَا تَنْقُصُوا الْمِكْيَالَ وَالْمِيزَانَ ۚ إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ وَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ مُحِيطٍ |
| Transliteration | : | wa- 'ilaa madyan 'akhaa -hum shucayb(an) qaala yaa qawm -e ucbudo 'allaah maa la- -kum min 'ilaah ghayr -hu wa- laa tanqus.o al- mikyaal wa- al- mezaan 'inni -y araa -kum bi- khayr wa- 'inni -y akhaaf calay -kum cadhaab yawm muh.et. |
| Pickthall | : | And unto Midian (We sent) their brother Shueyb. He said: O my people! Serve Allah. Ye have no other God save Him! And give not short measure and short weight. Lo! I see you well to do, and lo! I fear for you the doom of a besetting Day. |
| Asad | : | AND UNTO [the people of] Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb.116 He said: "O my people! Worship God [alone]: you have no deity other than Him; and do not give short measure and weight [in any of your dealings with men].117 Behold, I see you [now] in a happy state; but, verily, I dread lest suffering befall you on a Day that will encompass [you with doom]! |
| Malik | : | To the people of Median We sent their brother Shu'aib. He said: "O my people! Worship Allah, you have no god but Him. Do not give short measure and weight. Although I see you in prosperity today, I fear for you the scourge of a Day that will encircle you. |
| Yusuf Ali | : | To the Madyan people (We sent) Shuaib one of their own brethren: he said: "O my people! worship Allah: ye have no other god but Him. And give not short measure or weight: I see you in prosperity but I fear for you the Penalty of a Day that will compass (you) all round. 1582 1583 |
Note - 116See surah {7}, note [67].
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Note - 117Thus, belief in the One God and justice in all dealings
between man and man (see surah {6}, note [150]) are here
placed together as the twin postulates of all
righteousness. Some commentators assume that the people
of Madyan were of a particularly commercial bent of mind,
and given to fraudulent dealings. It is obvious, however,
that the purport of this passage and of its sequence goes
far beyond anything that might be construed by a purely
"historical" interpretation. What this version of
Shu'ayb's story aims at is - as always in the Qur'an -
the enunciation of a generally applicable principle of
ethics: namely, the impossibility of one's being
righteous with regard to God unless one is righteous - in
both the moral and social senses of this word - in the
realm of human relationships as well. This explains the
insistence with which the above prohibition is re-stated
in a Dositive form, as an injunction, in the next verse.
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Note - 1582Cf. vii. 85-93. The location of Madyan is explained in n.
1053 to vii. 85 and the chronological place of Shu'aib in
n. 1064 to vii. 93. The point of the reference here is
different from that in S. vii. Here the emphasis is on
Allah's dealings with men and men's crooked and obstinate
ways: there the emphasis was rather on their treatment of
their Prophet, thus throwing light on some of the sins of
the Makkans in later times.
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Note - 1583The Midianites were a commercial people, and their
besetting sin was commercial selfishness and fraudulent
dealings in weights and measures. Their Prophet tells
them that that is the surest way to cut short their
"prosperity", both in the material and the spiritual
sense. When the Day of Judgment comes, it will search out
their dealings through and through: "it will compass them
all round," and they will not be able to escape then,
however much they may conceal their frauds in this world.
|
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Thus, belief in the One God and justice in all dealings between man and man (see surah {6}, note [150]) are here placed together as the twin postulates of all righteousness. Some commentators assume that the people of Madyan were of a particularly commercial bent of mind, and given to fraudulent dealings. It is obvious, however, that the purport of this passage and of its sequence goes far beyond anything that might be construed by a purely "historical" interpretation. What this version of Shu'ayb's story aims at is - as always in the Qur'an - the enunciation of a generally applicable principle of ethics: namely, the impossibility of one's being righteous with regard to God unless one is righteous - in both the moral and social senses of this word - in the realm of human relationships as well. This explains the insistence with which the above prohibition is re-stated in a Dositive form, as an injunction, in the next verse. |
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Cf. vii. 85-93. The location of Madyan is explained in n. 1053 to vii. 85 and the chronological place of Shu'aib in n. 1064 to vii. 93. The point of the reference here is different from that in S. vii. Here the emphasis is on Allah's dealings with men and men's crooked and obstinate ways: there the emphasis was rather on their treatment of their Prophet, thus throwing light on some of the sins of the Makkans in later times. |
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The Midianites were a commercial people, and their besetting sin was commercial selfishness and fraudulent dealings in weights and measures. Their Prophet tells them that that is the surest way to cut short their "prosperity", both in the material and the spiritual sense. When the Day of Judgment comes, it will search out their dealings through and through: "it will compass them all round," and they will not be able to escape then, however much they may conceal their frauds in this world. |
