Surah 7. Al-A'raf

[But] the arrogant ones said: "Behold, what you have come to believe in we refuse to regard as true!"

  - Mohammad Asad

The arrogant, who considered themselves superior, said: "We deny all that you believe in."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The arrogant said, 'We surely reject what you believe in.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Those who were scornful said : Lo! in that which ye believe we are disbelievers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The arrogant party said: "for our part we reject what ye believe in."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

And then they cruelly slaughtered the she-camel,⁶¹ and turned with disdain from their Sustainer's commandment, and said: "O Salih! Bring, about that [punishment] with which thou hast threatened us, if thou art truly one of God's message-bearers!"

  - Mohammad Asad

The verb 'aqara primarily denotes "he hamstrung [an animal]" - i.e., before slaughtering it, so that it might not run away. This barbarous custom was widely practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia, so that 'aqr ("hamstringing") gradually became synonymous with slaughtering in a cruel manner (Razi; see also Lane V, 2107 f.).

Then they hamstrung the she-camel, defied the commandment of their Rabb and challenged Saleh saying: "Bring down the scourge you have threatened us with, if you truly are one of the Rasools."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then they killed the she-camel- defying their Lord's command- and challenged 'Salih', 'Bring us what you threaten us with, if you are 'truly' one of the messengers.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

So they hamstrung the she-camel, and they flouted the commandment of their Lord, and they said: O Salih! Bring upon us that thou threatenest if thou art indeed of those sent (from Allah).

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

Then they ham-strung the she-camel and insolently defied the order of their Lord saying: "O Saleh! bring about thy threats if thou art an apostle (of Allah)!"

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Thereupon an earthquake overtook them: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground.⁶²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "they became, in their homes, prostrate on the ground". The term rajfah which occurs at the beginning of this sentence signifies any violent commotion or trembling, and is often, though not always, applied to an earthquake (rajfat al-ard). It is possible that the earthquake mentioned here was accompanied by the volcanic eruption which at some time overtook the historical dwelling-places of the Thamud tribe, and to which the extensive black lava-fields (harrah) of northern Hijaz, and particularly near Mada'in Salih see note [59] above, bear eloquent witness to this day.

Thereupon an earthquake overtook them and they became lifeless bodies in their homes with their faces down.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

Then an 'overwhelming' earthquake struck them, and they fell lifeless in their homes.

  - Mustafa Khattab

So the earthquake seized them, and morning found them prostrate in their dwelling place.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So the earthquake took them unawares and they lay prostrate in their homes in the morning! ¹⁰⁴⁷

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The retribution was not long delayed. A terrible earthquake came and buried the people and destroyed their boasted civilisation. The calamity must have been fairly extensive in area and intense in the terror it inspired, for it is described (liv. 31) as a "single mighty blast" (saihatan wahidatan), the sort of terror-inspiring noise which accompanies all big earthquakes.

And [Salih] turned away from them, and said: "O my people! Indeed, I delivered unto you my Sustainer's message and gave you good advice: but you did not love those who gave [you] good advice."

  - Mohammad Asad

Saleh left them saying: "O my people! I did indeed convey to you the message of my Rabb and gave you good advice but you did not love the good advisers."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So he turned away from them, saying, 'O my people! Surely I conveyed to you my Lord's message and gave you 'sincere' advice, but you do not like 'sincere' advisors.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

And Salih turned on them and said : O my people! I delivered my Lord's message unto you and gave you good advice, but ye love not good advisers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

So Saleh left them saying: "O my people! I did indeed convey to you the message for which I was sent by my Lord: I gave you good counsel but ye love not good counsellors!" ¹⁰⁴⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Salih was saved by Allah's mercy as a just and righteous man. His speech here may be either a parting warning, or it may be a soliloquy lamenting the destruction of his people for their sin and folly.

AND [remember] Lot,⁶³ when he said unto his people: "Will you commit abominations such as none in all the world has ever done before you?

  - Mohammad Asad

The story of Lot, Abraham's nephew (Lut in Arabic), is given in greater detail in {11:69-83}.

We also selected Lut, who said to his people: "Will you do such indecent acts as no one else in the world has committed before you?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And 'remember' when Lot scolded 'the men of' his people, 'saying,' 'Do you commit a shameful deed that no man has ever done before?

  - Mustafa Khattab

And Lo! (Remember) when he said unto his folk: Will ye commit abomination such as no creature ever did before you?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

We also (sent) Lut: he said to his people: "Do ye commit lewdness such as no people in creation (ever) committed before you? ¹⁰⁴⁹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Lut is the Lot of the English Bible. His story is biblical, but freed from some shameful features which are a blot on the biblical narrative, (e.g., see Gen. xix. 30-36). He was a nephew of Abraham, and was sent as a Prophet and warner to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, cities utterly destroyed for their unspeakable sins. They cannot be exactly located, but it may be supposed that they were somewhere in the plain cast of the Dead Sea. The story of their destruction is told in the 19th chapter of Genesis. Two angels in the shape of handsome young men came to Lot in the evening and became his guests by night. The inhabitants of Sodom in their lust for unnatural crime invaded Lot's house but were repulsed. In the morning, the angels warned Lot to escape with his family. "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven; and He overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt." (Gen. xix. 24-26). Note that Lot's people are the people to whom he is sent on a mission. He was not one of their own brethren, as was Salih or Shu'aib. But he looked upon his people as his brethren (I. 13), as a man of God always does.

Verily, with lust you approach men instead of women: nay, but you are people given to excesses!"

  - Mohammad Asad

You satisfy your lust with men (homosexual) instead of women. Indeed you are a nation who has transgressed beyond bounds."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

You lust after men instead of women! You are certainly transgressors.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

Lo! ye come with lust unto men instead of women. Nay, but ye, are wanton folk.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"For ye practice your lusts on men in preference to women: ye are indeed a people transgressing beyond bounds."

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

But his people's only answer was this:⁶⁴ "Expel them from your land! Verily, they are folk who make themselves out to be pure!"⁶⁵

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "their answer was nothing but that they said".

Lit., "who purify themselves"; also, "who keep aloof from unclean things": here obviously used ironically. The plural relates to Lot, his family and his followers cf. 27:56 .

His people had no answer but to say: "Drive them out of your town, they pose to be very pious!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

But his people's only response was to say, 'Expel them from your land! They are a people who wish to remain chaste!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

And the answer of his people was only that they said (one to another): Turn them out of your township. They are folk, forsooth, who keep pure.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And his people gave no answer but this: they said "drive them out of your city: these are indeed men who want to be clean and pure!" ¹⁰⁵⁰

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

An instance of the withering sarcasm that hardened sinners use against the righteous. They wound with words, and follow up the insult with deeds of injustice, thinking that they would bring the righteous into disgrace. But Allah looks after His own, and in the end, the wicked themselves are overthrown when the cup of their iniquity is full.

Thereupon We saved him and his household - except his wife, who was among those that stayed behind⁶⁶ -

  - Mohammad Asad

Contrary to the Biblical account, according to which Lot's wife only "looked back" inadvertently (Genesis xix, 26), the Qur'an makes it clear in 11:81 and 66:10 that she remained behind deliberately, being at heart one with the sinning people of Sodom and having no faith in her husband.

So We saved him and his family except his wife, who was of those who lagged behind.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

So We saved him and his family except his wife, who was one of the doomed.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And We rescued him and his household, save his wife, who was of those who stayed behind.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

But We saved him and his family except his wife: she was of those who lagged behind. ¹⁰⁵¹

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

In the biblical narrative she looks back, a physical act (see n. 1049): here she is a type of those who lag behind, i.e, whose mental and moral attitude, in spite of their association with the righteous, is to hark back to the glitter of wickedness and sin. The righteous should have one sole objective, the Way of Allah. They should not took behind, nor yet to the right or the left.

the while We rained a rain [of destruction] upon the others: and behold what happened in the end to those people lost in sin!

  - Mohammad Asad

We let loose rain of brimstone and every one of them was killed; see what was the outcome for such criminals.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We poured upon them a rain 'of brimstone'. See what was the end of the wicked!

  - Mustafa Khattab

And We rained a rain upon them. See now the nature of the consequence for evil doers!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

And We rained down on them a shower (of brimstone): then see what was the end of those who indulged in sin and crime! ¹⁰⁵²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The shower is expressly stated in Q. xi. 82 to have been of stones. In xv. 73-74, we are told that there was a terrible blast or noise (saihat) in addition to the shower of stones. Taking these passages into consideration along with Gen. xix. 24. (see n. 1049 above), I think it is legitimate to translate: "a shower of brimstone."

AND UNTO [the people of] Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb.⁶⁷ He said: "O my people! Worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him. Clear evidence of the truth has now come unto you from your Sustainer. Give, therefore, full measure and weight [in all your dealings], and do not deprive people of what is rightfully theirs;⁶⁸ and do not spread corruption on earth after it has been so well ordered: [all] this is for your own good, if you would but believe.

  - Mohammad Asad

Shu'ayb is said to be identical with Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, also called in the Bible Reu-el (Exodus ii, 18), meaning "Faithful to God". The region of Madyan - the Midian of the Bible - extended from the present-day Gulf of Aqabah westwards deep into the Sinai Peninsula and to the mountains of Moab east of the Dead Sea; its inhabitants were Arabs of the Amorite group of tribes.

Lit., "do not diminish to people their things" - an expression which applies to physical possessions as well as to moral and social rights. Regarding my interpolation of "in all your dealings", see surah {6}, note [150].

For Madyan We selected their brother Shuaib, who said: "O my people! Worship Allah, you have no other god but Him. A clear guidance has come to you from your Rabb. Give just measure and weight, do not undersell others in their goods, and do not create mischief in the land after it has been set in order; this is better for you if you are true believers.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And to the people of Midian We sent their brother Shu'aib. He said, 'O my people! Worship Allah- you have no other god except Him. A clear proof has already come to you from your Lord. So give just measure and weight, do not defraud people of their property, nor spread corruption in the land after it has been set in order. This is for your own good, if you are 'truly' believers.

  - Mustafa Khattab

And unto Midian (We sent) their brother, Shueyb. He said: O my people! Serve Allah. Ye have no other God save Him. Lo! a clear proof hath come unto you from your Lord; so give full measure and full weight and wrong not mankind in their goods, and work not confusion in the earth after the fair ordering thereof. That will be better for you, if ye are believers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

To the Madyan people We sent Shu`aib one of their own brethren: he said: "O my people! worship Allah; Ye have no other god but Him. Now hath come unto you a clear (sign) from your Lord! Give just measure and weight nor withhold from the people the things that are their due; and do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order: that will be best for you if ye have faith. ^{1053 1054}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

"Madyan" may be identified with "Midian". Midian and the Midianites are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, though the particular incident here mentioned belongs to Arab rather than to Jewish tradition. The Midianites were of Arab race, though, as neighbours of the Canaanites, they probably intermixed with them. They were a wandering tribe: it was Midianite merchants to whom Joseph was sold into slavery, and who took him to Egypt. Their principal territory in the time of Moses was in the northeast of the Sinai Peninsula, and east of the Amalekites. Under Moses the Israelites waged a war of extermination against them: they slew the kings of Midian, slaughtered all the males, burnt their cities and castles, and captured their cattle (Num. xxxi, 7-1 1). This sounds like total extermination. Yet a few generations afterwards, they were so powerful that the Israelites for their sins were delivered into the captivity of the Midianites for seven years: both the Midianites and their camels were without number: and the Israelites hid from them in "dens..... caves, and strongholds" (Judges vii. 1- 6). Gideon destroyed them again, (Judges vii. 1-25), say about two centuries after Moses. As the decisive battle was near the hill of Moreh, not far south of Mount Tabor, we may localise the Midianites on this occasion in the northern parts of the Jordan valley, at least 200 miles north of the Sinai Peninsula. This and the previous destruction under Moses were local, and mention no town of Midian. In later times there was a town of Madyan on the cast side of the Gulf of 'Aqaba. It is mentioned in Josephus, Eusebius, and Ptolemy: (Encyclopaedia of Islam). Then it disappears from geography. In Muslim times it was a revived town with quite a different kind of population, but it never flourished. The Midianites disappeared from history.

Shu'aib belongs to Arab rather than to Jewish tradition, to which he is unknown. His identification with Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, has no warrant, and I reject it. There is no similarity either in names or incidents, and there are chronological difficulties (see n. 1064 below). If, as the Commentators tell us, Shuaib was in the fourth generation from Abraham, being a great-grandson of Madyan (a son of Abraham), he would be only about a century from the time of Abraham, whereas the Hebrew Bible would give us a period of four to six centuries between Abraham and Moses. The mere fact that Jathro was a Midianite and that another name, Hobab, is mentioned for a father-in-law of Moses in Num x. 29, is slender ground for identificaion. As the Midianites were mainly a nomad tribe, we need not be surprised that their destruction in one or two settlements did not affect their life in wandering sections of the tribe in other geographical regions. Shu'aib's mission was apparently in one of the settled towns of the Midianites, which was completely destroyed by an earthquake (vii. 91). If this happened in the century after Abraham, there is no difficulty in supposing that they were again a numerous tribe, three or five centuries later, in the time of Moses (see last note). As they were a mixed wandering tribe, both their resilience and their eventual absorption can be easily understood. But the destruction of the settlement or settlements (if the Wood or Aika was a separate settlement, see n. 2000 to xv. 78) to which Shu'aib was sent to preach was complete, and no traces of it now remain. The name of the highest mountain of Yemen, Nabi Shu'aib (11,000 ft.) has probably no connection with the geographical territory of the nomad Midianites, unless we suppose that their wanderings extended so far south from the territories mentioned in the last note.

And do not lie in ambush by every road [that leads to the truth⁶⁹ ], threatening and trying to turn away from God's path all who believe in Him, and trying to make it appear crooked. And remember [the time] when you were few, and [how] He made you many: and behold what happened in the end to the spreaders of corruption!

  - Mohammad Asad

Thus Zamakhshari and Razi, stressing the metaphorical meaning of the above phrase. Cf. a similar expression, attributed to Satan, in verse {16} of this surah.

Do not sit in ambush on every road to threaten people and hinder from the Way of Allah those who believe in Him, seeking to make His Way crooked. Remember how He multiplied you when you were a few in number and see what was the end of the mischief-makers of prior nations.

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

And do not lie in ambush on every road- threatening and hindering those who believe in Allah from His Path and striving to make it 'appear' crooked. Remember when you were few, then He increased you in number. And consider the fate of the corruptors!

  - Mustafa Khattab

Lurk not on every road to threaten (wayfarers), and to turn away from Allah's path him who believeth in Him, and to seek to make it crooked. And remember, when ye were but few, how He did multiply you. And see the nature of the consequence for the corrupters!

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"And squat not on every road breathing threats hindering from the path of Allah those who believe in Him and seeking in it something crooked; but remember how ye were little and He gave you increase. And hold in your mind's eye what was the end of those who did mischief. ¹⁰⁵⁵

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The Midianites were in the path of a commercial highway of Asia, viz., that between two such opulent and highly organised nations as Egypt and the Mesopotamian group comprising Assyria and Babylonia. Their besetting sins are thus characterised here: (1) giving short measure or weight, whereas the strictest commercial probity is necessary for success, (2) a more general form of such fraud, depriving people of rightful dues, (3) producing mishchief and disorder, whereas peace and order had been established (again in a literal as well as a metaphorical sense); (4) not content with upsetting settled life, taking to highway robbery, literally as well as (5) metaphorically, in two ways, viz., cutting off people from access to the worship of Allah, and abusing religion and piety for crooked purposes, i.e., exploiting religion itself for their crooked ends, as when a man builds houses of prayer out of unlawful gains or ostentatiously gives charity out of money which he has obtained by force or fraud, etc. After setting out this catalogue of besetting sins Shu'aib makes two appeals to the past: (1) You began as an insignificant tribe, and by Allah's favour you increased and multiplied in numbers and resources: do you not then owe a duty to Allah to fulfil His Law? (2) What was the result in the case of those who fell into sin? Will you not take warning by their example? So Shu'aib began his argument with faith in Allah as the source of all virtue, and ended it with destruction as the result of all sin. In the next verse he pleads with them to end their controversies and come to Allah.

"And if there be some among you who have come to believe in the message which I bear, the while the others do not believe, then have patience in adversity till God shall judge between us [and them]: for He is the best of all judges!"

  - Mohammad Asad

If there are some among you who believe in the message with which I have been sent and others who disbelieve it, then be patient until Allah judges between us, for He is the best of all judges."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

If some of you do believe in what I have been sent with while others do not, then be patient until Allah judges between us. He is the Best of Judges.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

And if there is a party of you which believeth in that wherewith I have been sent, and there is a party which believeth not, then have patience until Allah judge between us. He is the best of all who deal in judgment.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"And if there is a party among you who believes in the message with which I have been sent and a party which does not believe hold yourselves in patience until Allah doth decide between us: for He is the best to decide." ^{1056 1057}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Madyan is torn by internal conflict. Shu'aib comes as a peace-maker, not in virtue of his own wisdom, but by appeal to the truth, righteousness and justice of God. As we see later, the real motives of his opponents were selfishness, arrogance, violence, lawlessness, and injustice. But he appeals to their better nature, and is prepared to argue on the basis that the party which wants to suppress those who believe in God's Message and in righteousness, has some sincere mental difficulty in accepting Shu'aib's mission, "If," he says to them, "that is the case, do you think it justifies your intolerance, your violence, or your persecution? On the contrary, events will prove by themselves who is right and who is wrong." To the small band who believe in his mission and follow his teaching, he would preach patience and perseverance. His argument to them would be: "You have faith; surely your faith is strong enough to sustain you in the hope that Allah's truth will triumph in the end; there is no cause for despair or dejection." How exactly these past experiences fit the times of our holy guide Muhammad! And it is for that analogy and that lesson that the stories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Lut, and Shuaib are related to us,-all different, and yet all pointing to the great lessons in Muhammad's life.

See the argument in the last note. Allah's decision may come partly in this very life, either for the same generation or for succeeding generations, by the logic of external events. But in any case it is bound to come spiritually on a higher plane eventually, when the righteous will be comforted and the sinners will be convinced of sin from their own inner conviction.

Said the great ones among his people, who gloried in their arrogance: "Most certainly, O Shu'ayb, we shall expel thee and thy fellow-believers from our land, unless you indeed return to our ways!" Said [Shu'ayb]: "Why, even though we abhor [them]?

  - Mohammad Asad

The arrogant proud leaders of his nation said: "O Shuaib! We shall certainly drive you and your fellow believers out of our town or you will have to return back to our national ways." He replied: "What! Will you make us turn back against our will?

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The arrogant chiefs of his people threatened, 'O Shu'aib! We will certainly expel you and your fellow believers from our land, unless you return to our faith.' He replied, 'Even if we hate it?

  - Mustafa Khattab

The chieftains of his people, who were scornful, said: Surely we will drive thee out, O Shueyb, and those who believe with thee, from our township, unless ye return to our religion. He said : Even though we hate it?

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The leaders the arrogant party among his people said: "O Shu`aib! we shall certainly drive thee out of our city (thee) and those who believe with thee: or else ye (thou and they) shall have to return to our ways and religion." He said: "what! even though we do detest (them)? ¹⁰⁵⁸

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The gentle, all-persuasive arguments of Shuaib fell on hard hearts. Their only reply was: "Turn him out!-him and his people." When courtesy and a plea for toleration are pitted against bigotry, what room is there for logic? But bigotry and unrighteousness havc their own crooked ways of pretending to be tolerant. "O yes!" they said, "we are very tolerant and long-suffering! But we are for our country and religion. Come back to the ways of our fathers, and we shall graciously forgive you!" "Ways of their fathers!"- they meant injustice and oppression, high-handedness to the poor and the weak, fraud under cover of religion, and so on! Perhaps the righteous were the poor and the weak. Were they likely to love such ways? Perhaps there was implied a bribe as well as a threat. "If you come back and wink at our iniquities, you shall have scraps of prosperity thrown at you. If not, out you go in disgrace!"

We should be guilty of blaspheming against God⁷⁰ were we to return to your ways after God has saved us from them! It is not conceivable that we should return to them - unless God, our Sustainer, so wills.⁷¹ All things does our Sustainer embrace within His knowledge; in God do we place our trust. O our Sustainer! Lay Thou open the truth between us and our people - for Thou art the best of all to lay open the truth!"⁷²

  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "inventing a lie about God".

An expression of humility, and not of the idea that God might "will" them to blaspheme.

Or: "Thou art the best of all deciders" - since the verb fataha can also be rendered as "he decided". However, Shu'ayb's prayer could not have implied a request for God's "decision" (for there was no doubt in his mind as to who was right), and therefore the primary significance of iftah ("lay open") and fatih ("one who lays open", i.e., the truth) is preferable.

We shall indeed invent a lie against Allah if we return to your ways after Allah has rescued us therefrom. It is not possible for us to turn back unless Allah, our Rabb, want us to. Our Rabb has vast knowledge of everything. We put our trust in Allah." Then they prayed: "Our Rabb! Decide between us and our nation with truth, for you are the best to decide."

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

We would surely be fabricating a lie against Allah if we were to return to your faith after Allah has saved us from it. It does not befit us to return to it unless it is the Will of Allah, our Lord. Our Lord has encompassed everything in 'His' knowledge. In Allah we trust. Our Lord! Judge between us and our people with truth. You are the best of those who judge.'

  - Mustafa Khattab

We should have invented a lie against Allah if we returned to your religion after Allah hath rescued us from it. It is not for us to return to it unless Allah should (so) will. Our Lord comprehendeth all things in knowledge. In Allah do we put our trust. Our Lord! Decide with truth between us and our folk, for Thou art the best of those who make decision.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

"We should indeed invent a lie against Allah if we returned to your ways after Allah hath rescued us therefrom: nor could we by any manner of means return thereto unless it be as in the Will and plan of Allah Our Lord. Our Lord can reach out to the utmost recesses of things by His knowledge. In Allah is our trust. Our Lord! decide thou between us and our people in truth for thou art the best to decide." ^{1059 1060 1061}

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The answer of the righteous is threefold. (1) "Coming back is all very well. But do you mean that we should practise the vices we detest?" (2) "You want us to lie against our conscience and our Lord, after we have seen the evil of your ways." (3) "Neither bribes nor threats, nor specious appeals to patriotism or ancestral religion can move us: the matter rests with Allah, Whose will and pleasure we obey, and on Whom alone we rely. His knowledge will search out all your specious pretences."

This, of course, does not mean that anyone can ever return to evil ways with Allah's consent. Shu'aib has already emphatically repudiated the idea of returning "to your ways after Allah hath rescued us therefrom." But even if their ways had been good, the human will, he goes on to say, has no data to rely upon, and he and his followers would only be guided by Allah's Will and Plan.

Having answered the insincere quibblers among the godless, the righteous turn to Allah in earnest prayer. The endless controversies in this world about abstract or speculative things never end even where both sides are sincere in their beliefs. The decision must be taken to Allah, Who sits on the throne of Truth, and Whose decisions will, therefore, be free from the errors and imperfections of all human judgment. The sincere have nothing to fear in the appeal to Him, as their motives are pure.

But the great ones among his people, who were bent on denying the truth, said [to his followers]: "Indeed, if you follow Shu'ayb, you will, verily, be the losers!"

  - Mohammad Asad

The leaders who disbelieved from among his nation said: "If you follow Shu`aib, you shall indeed be losers!"

  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik

The disbelieving chiefs of his people threatened, 'If you follow Shu'aib, you will surely be losers!'

  - Mustafa Khattab

But the chieftains of his people, who were disbelieving, said: If ye follow Shueyb, then truly we shall be the losers.

  - Marmaduke Pickthall

The leaders the unbelievers among his people said "if ye follow Shu`aib be sure then ye are ruined!" ¹⁰⁶²

  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The answer of the Unbelievers is characteristic. As all their bribes and subtleties have failed, they resort to threats, which are worse than the argument of the stick. "All right," they say, "there is nothing but ruin before you!" That means that the Believers will be persecuted, held up to obloquy, ostracised, and prevented from access to all means of honourable livelihood; their families and dependants will be insulted, reviled, and tortured, if they could but be got into the enemy's power: their homes destroyed, and their names held up to ridicule and contempt even when they are gone. But, as verse 92 says, their wicked designs recoiled on themselves; it was the wicked who were ruined and blotted out.