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Surah 7. Al-A'raf

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7:81
إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ ٱلرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِّن دُونِ ٱلنِّسَآءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ Innakum latatoona a l rrij a la shahwatan min dooni a l nnis a i bal antum qawmun musrifoon a
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

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7:82
وَمَا كَانَ جَوَابَ قَوْمِهِۦٓ إِلَّآ أَن قَالُوٓا۟ أَخْرِجُوهُم مِّن قَرْيَتِكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُمْ أُنَاسٌ يَتَطَهَّرُونَ Wam a k a na jaw a ba qawmihi ill a an q a loo akhrijoohum min qaryatikum innahum on a sun yata t ahharoon a
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.

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7:83
فَأَنجَيْنَـٰهُ وَأَهْلَهُۥٓ إِلَّا ٱمْرَأَتَهُۥ كَانَتْ مِنَ ٱلْغَـٰبِرِينَ Faanjayn a hu waahlahu ill a imraatahu k a nat mina algh a bireen a
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.

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7:84
وَأَمْطَرْنَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرًا ۖ فَٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُجْرِمِينَ Waam t arn a AAalayhim ma t aran fa o n th ur kayfa k a na AA a qibatu almujrimeen a
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."

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7:85
وَإِلَىٰ مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا ۗ قَالَ يَـٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَـٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ ۖ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم بَيِّنَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ فَأَوْفُوا۟ ٱلْكَيْلَ وَٱلْمِيزَانَ وَلَا تَبْخَسُوا۟ ٱلنَّاسَ أَشْيَآءَهُمْ وَلَا تُفْسِدُوا۟ فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ بَعْدَ إِصْلَـٰحِهَا ۚ ذَٰلِكُمْ خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ Wail a madyana akh a hum shuAAayban q a la y a qawmi oAAbudoo All a ha m a lakum min il a hin ghayruhu qad j a atkum bayyinatun min rabbikum faawfoo alkayla wa a lmeez a na wal a tabkhasoo a l nn a sa ashy a ahum wal a tufsidoo fee alar d i baAAda i s l ah ih a tha likum khayrun lakum in kuntum mumineen a
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.

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7:86
وَلَا تَقْعُدُوا۟ بِكُلِّ صِرَٰطٍ تُوعِدُونَ وَتَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِهِۦ وَتَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا ۚ وَٱذْكُرُوٓا۟ إِذْ كُنتُمْ قَلِيلًا فَكَثَّرَكُمْ ۖ وَٱنظُرُوا۟ كَيْفَ كَانَ عَـٰقِبَةُ ٱلْمُفْسِدِينَ Wal a taqAAudoo bikulli s ir at in tooAAidoona wata s uddoona AAan sabeeli All a hi man a mana bihi watabghoonah a AAiwajan wa o th kuroo i th kuntum qaleelan fakaththarakum wa o n th uroo kayfa k a na AA a qibatu almufsideen a
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.

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7:87
وَإِن كَانَ طَآئِفَةٌ مِّنكُمْ ءَامَنُوا۟ بِٱلَّذِىٓ أُرْسِلْتُ بِهِۦ وَطَآئِفَةٌ لَّمْ يُؤْمِنُوا۟ فَٱصْبِرُوا۟ حَتَّىٰ يَحْكُمَ ٱللَّهُ بَيْنَنَا ۚ وَهُوَ خَيْرُ ٱلْحَـٰكِمِينَ Wain k a na ta ifatun minkum a manoo bi a lla th ee orsiltu bihi wa ta ifatun lam yuminoo fa i s biroo h att a ya h kuma All a hu baynan a wahuwa khayru al ha kimeen a
"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.

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7:88
قَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسْتَكْبَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لَنُخْرِجَنَّكَ يَـٰشُعَيْبُ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَكَ مِن قَرْيَتِنَآ أَوْ لَتَعُودُنَّ فِى مِلَّتِنَا ۚ قَالَ أَوَلَوْ كُنَّا كَـٰرِهِينَ Q a la almalao alla th eena istakbaroo min qawmihi lanukhrijannaka y a shuAAaybu wa a lla th eena a manoo maAAaka min qaryatin a aw lataAAoodunna fee millatin a q a la awalaw kunn a k a riheen a
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!"

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7:89
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 ٱلْفَـٰتِحِينَ Qadi iftarayn a AAal a All a hi ka th iban in AAudn a fee millatikum baAAda i th najj a n a All a hu minh a wam a yakoonu lan a an naAAooda feeh a ill a an yash a a All a hu rabbun a wasiAAa rabbun a kulla shayin AAilman AAal a All a hi tawakkaln a rabban a ifta h baynan a wabayna qawmin a bi a l h aqqi waanta khayru alf a ti h een a
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.

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7:90
وَقَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لَئِنِ ٱتَّبَعْتُمْ شُعَيْبًا إِنَّكُمْ إِذًا لَّخَـٰسِرُونَ Waq a la almalao alla th eena kafaroo min qawmihi laini ittabaAAtum shuAAayban innakum i th an lakh a siroon a
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.

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7:91
فَأَخَذَتْهُمُ ٱلرَّجْفَةُ فَأَصْبَحُوا۟ فِى دَارِهِمْ جَـٰثِمِينَ Faakha th athumu a l rrajfatu faa s ba h oo fee d a rihim j a thimeen a
Thereupon an earthquake overtook them: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground73 -
  - Mohammad Asad

See note [62] above. Like the harrah once inhabited by the Thamud tribe, the adjoining region of Madyan (the Biblical Midian) shows ample evidence of volcanic eruptions and earthquakes.

Thereupon an earthquake overtook them and they become 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
But the earthquake took them unawares and they lay prostrate in their homes before the morning! 1063
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

The fate of the Madyan people is described in the same terms as that of the Thamud in verse 78 above. An earthquake seized them by night, and they were buried in their own homes, no longer to vex Allah's earth. But a supplementary detail is mentioned in xxvi. 189, "the punishment of a day of overshadowing gloom," which may be understood to mean a shower of ashes and cinders accompanying a volcanic eruption. Thus a day of terror drove them into their homes, and the earthquake finished them. The lament of Shu'aib in verse 93 is almost the same as that of Salih in verse 79, with two differences: (1) Shu'aib's messages attacked the many sins of his people (see n. 1055) and are, therefore, expressed in the plural, while Salih's fight was chiefly against selfish arrogance, and his message is expressed in the singular; (2) the Thamud were the more cultured people of the two, and perished in their own pride; as Salih said, "ye love not good counsellors"; the Midianites were a rougher people, and their minds were less receptive of argument or faith; as Shu'aib said, they were a people who "refused to believe."

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7:92
ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ شُعَيْبًا كَأَن لَّمْ يَغْنَوْا۟ فِيهَا ۚ ٱلَّذِينَ كَذَّبُوا۟ شُعَيْبًا كَانُوا۟ هُمُ ٱلْخَـٰسِرِينَ Alla th eena ka thth aboo shuAAayban kaan lam yaghnaw feeh a alla th eena ka thth aboo shuAAayban k a noo humu alkh a sireen a
they who had given the lie to Shu'ayb - as though they had never lived there: they who had given the lie to Shu'ayb - it was they who were the losers!
  - Mohammad Asad
Those who called Shu`aib a liar were as though they never lived therein; those who called Shu`aib a liar were the actual losers.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Those who rejected Shu'aib were 'wiped out' as if they had never lived there. Those who rejected Shu'aib were the true losers.
  - Mustafa Khattab
Those who denied Shueyb became as though they had not dwelt there. Those who denied Shueyb, they were the losers.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
The men who rejected Shu`aib became as if they had never been in the homes where they had flourished: the men who rejected Shu`aib it was they who were ruined!
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

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7:93
فَتَوَلَّىٰ عَنْهُمْ وَقَالَ يَـٰقَوْمِ لَقَدْ أَبْلَغْتُكُمْ رِسَـٰلَـٰتِ رَبِّى وَنَصَحْتُ لَكُمْ ۖ فَكَيْفَ ءَاسَىٰ عَلَىٰ قَوْمٍ كَـٰفِرِينَ Fatawall a AAanhum waq a la y a qawmi laqad ablaghtukum ris a l a ti rabbee wana s a h tu lakum fakayfa a s a AAal a qawmin k a fireen a
And he turned away from them, and said: "O my people! Indeed, I delivered unto you my Sustainer's message and gave you good advice: how, then, could I mourn for people who have denied the truth?"
  - Mohammad Asad
Shu`aib left them saying: "O my people! I did indeed convey to you the messages of my Rabb and I did give you good advice; how shall I then be sorry for the nation that refuses to believe?"
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
He turned away from them, saying, 'O my people! Indeed, I have delivered to you the messages of my Lord and gave you 'sincere' advice. How can I then grieve for those who chose to disbelieve?'
  - Mustafa Khattab
So he turned from them and said: O my people! I delivered my Lord's messages unto you and gave you good advice; then how can I sorrow for a people that rejected (truth)?
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
So Shu`aib left them saying: "O my people! I did indeed convey to you the messages for which I was sent by my Lord: I gave you good counsel but how shall I lament over a people who refuse to believe! 1064
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Can we get any idea of the chronological place of the destruction of the Midianites? In n. 1053 (vii. 85) we have discussed the geographical aspects. The following considerations will help us in getting some idea of their period. (1) The stories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Lut, and Shu'aib seem to be in chronological order. Therefore Shu'aib came after Abraham, whose nephew Lut was. (2) If Shu'aib was in the fourth generation from Abraham, (see n. 1590 to xi. 80), it would be impossible for him to have been a contemporary of Moses, who came many centuries later. This difficulty is recognised by Ibn Kathir and other classical commentators. (3) The identification of Shu'aib with Jethro the father-in-law of Moses is without warrant; see n. 1054 (vii. 85). (4) Shu'aib must have been before Moses; see vii. 103. (5) The Midianites who were destroyed by Moses and by Gideon after him (n. 1053) were local remnants, as we may speak of the Jews at the present day; but their existence as a nation in their original home-lands seems to have ended before Moses: "they became as if they had never been in the homes where they had flourished" (vii. 92). (6) Josephus, Eusebius, and Ptolemy mention a town of Madyan, but it was not of any importance (n. 1053). (7) After the first centuries of the Christian era, Madyan as a town appears as an unimportant place resting on its past.

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7:94
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا فِى قَرْيَةٍ مِّن نَّبِىٍّ إِلَّآ أَخَذْنَآ أَهْلَهَا بِٱلْبَأْسَآءِ وَٱلضَّرَّآءِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَضَّرَّعُونَ Wam a arsaln a fee qaryatin min nabiyyin ill a akha th n a ahlah a bi a lbas a i wa al dd arr a i laAAallahum ya dd arraAAoon a
AND NEVER YET have We sent a prophet unto any community without trying its people with misfortune and hardship, so that they might humble themselves;
  - Mohammad Asad
Whenever We sent a Prophet to a town We afflicted its people with adversity and misfortunes so that they might humble themselves.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Whenever We sent a prophet to a society, We afflicted its 'disbelieving' people with suffering and adversity, so perhaps they would be humbled.
  - Mustafa Khattab
And We sent no prophet unto any township but We did afflict its folk with tribulation and adversity that haply they might grow humble.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Whenever We sent a prophet to a town We took up its people in suffering and adversity in order that they might learn humility. 1065
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Man was originally created pure. The need of a prophet arises when there is some corruption and iniquity, which he is sent to combat. His coming means much trial and suffering, especially to those who join him in his protest against wrong. Even so peaceful a prophet as Jesus said; "I came not to send peace but a sword" (Matt. x. 34). But it is all in Allah's Plan, for we must learn humility if we would be worthy of Him.

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7:95
ثُمَّ بَدَّلْنَا مَكَانَ ٱلسَّيِّئَةِ ٱلْحَسَنَةَ حَتَّىٰ عَفَوا۟ وَّقَالُوا۟ قَدْ مَسَّ ءَابَآءَنَا ٱلضَّرَّآءُ وَٱلسَّرَّآءُ فَأَخَذْنَـٰهُم بَغْتَةً وَهُمْ لَا يَشْعُرُونَ Thumma baddaln a mak a na a l ssayyiati al h asanata h att a AAafaw waq a loo qad massa a b a an a a l dd arr a o wa al ssarr a o faakha th n a hum baghtatan wahum l a yashAAuroon a
then We transformed the affliction into ease of life,74 so that they throve and said [to themselves], "Misfortune and hardship befell our forefathers as well"75 - whereupon We took them to task, all of a sudden, without their being aware [of what was coming].76
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit. "then We put good [things] in place of the bad".

I.e., they regarded it as a normal course of events and did not draw any lesson from it.

Cf. {6:42-45}.

Then We changed their adversity into good fortune till they became very affluent and said: "Our forefathers also had their adversity and affluence." Behold! We took them by surprise while they did not even notice it.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Then We changed their adversity to prosperity until they flourished and argued 'falsely', 'Our forefathers 'too' had been visited by adversity and prosperity.'1 So We seized them by surprise, while they were unaware.
  - Mustafa Khattab

 They argued that life has its ups and downs and, therefore, they did not perceive adversity as a punishment or prosperity as a test—arguing that the same thing happened to their ancestors.

Then changed We the evil plight for good till they grew affluent and said: Tribulation and distress did touch our fathers. Then We seized them unawares, when they perceived not.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Then We changed their suffering into prosperity until they grew and multiplied and began to say: "Our fathers (too) were touched by suffering and affluence."...Behold! We called them to account of a sudden while they realized not (their peril). 1066
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Allah gives enough rope to the sinful. They grow and multiply, and become scornful. Neither suffering nor affluence teaches them the lessons which they are meant to learn, viz., patience and humility, gratitude and kindness to others. They take adversity and prosperity alike as a matter of chance. "O yes!" they say, "such things have happened in all ages! Our fathers had such experience before us, and our sons will have them after us. Thus goes on the world for all time!" But does it? What about the decree of Allah? They are found napping when Nemesis overtakes them in the midst of their impious tomfoolery!

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