Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:84
And to Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu'ayb. He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. And do not decrease from the measure and the scale. Indeed, I see you in prosperity, but indeed, I fear for you the punishment of an all-encompassing Day.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The statement concerning the explanation of the words of Allah, the Exalted: وَإِلَى مَدْيَنَ أَخَاهُمْ شُعَيْبًا قَالَ يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ وَلا تَنْقُصُوا الْمِكْيَالَ وَالْمِيزَانَ إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ وَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ مُحِيطٍ (And to Madyan their brother Shuʿayb. He said: "O my people, worship Allah — you have no god other than Him. Do not give short measure and weight. I see that you are in a good state, and I fear for you the punishment of an all-encompassing day") (84).
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted be His mention, says: We sent to the descendants of Madyan their brother Shuʿayb. When he came to them, he said: يَا قَوْمِ اعْبُدُوا اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ — that is to say: "Obey Him and submit to His sovereignty by obeying what He has commanded you and forbidden you" — مَا لَكُمْ مِنْ إِلَهٍ غَيْرُهُ — that is to say: "you have no object of worship besides Him who may lay claim to your worship" — وَلا تَنْقُصُوا الْمِكْيَالَ وَالْمِيزَانَ — that is to say: "do not give the people short of their rights in your measure and your weight" — إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ .
The exegetes differed concerning the "good" that Allah mentioned from Shuʿayb that he said to Madyan that he saw them in.
Some said: that was cheap prices, and he warned them against high prices.
Mention of who said this:
18467 — Zakariyyā ibn Yaḥyā ibn Abī Zāʾida related to me, saying: ʿAbd Allāh ibn Dāwūd al-Wāsiṭī related to us, saying: Muḥammad ibn Mūsā related to us, on the authority of al-Dhiyāl ibn ʿAmr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — he said: "Cheap prices" — وَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ مُحِيطٍ — he said: "High prices."
18468 — Aḥmad ibn ʿAmr al-Baṣrī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith related to me, saying: Ṣāliḥ ibn Rustum related to us, on the authority of al-Ḥasan — and he mentioned the people of Shuʿayb and said: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — he said: "Cheap prices."
18469 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr ibn ʿAlī related to me, saying: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn ʿAbd al-Wārith related to us, on the authority of Abū ʿĀmir al-Kharrāz, on the authority of al-Ḥasan, concerning His word: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — he said: "Wealth and cheap prices."
And others said: by it he meant: "I see that you have possessions and adornments of the world."
Mention of who said this:
18470 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — he said: "That is to say: the good of the world and its adornment."
18471 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, concerning His word: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — "He saw upon them a coating of the perishing world and its adornment."
18472 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us; Ibn Zayd said concerning His word: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — "In your world" — as Allah, the Exalted, says: إِنْ تَرَكَ خَيْرًا (if he leaves good behind) — He called it "good" because people call possessions "good."
Abū Jaʿfar said: The most correct of the opinions concerning this is what Allah mentioned from Shuʿayb that he said to his people, namely: إِنِّي أَرَاكُمْ بِخَيْرٍ — meaning by it the good of the world. To the good of the world belongs both possessions and adornments of worldly life as well as cheap prices. There is no indication that by it he meant one portion of the good of the world and not the other — it therefore encompasses all kinds of the good of the world that the scholars mentioned they had obtained therein.
Shuʿayb said this because his people lived in abundance of provision and cheap prices with much possession. He said to them: "Do not give the people short of their rights in your measures and weights — Allah has made your provision ample for you" — وَإِنِّي أَخَافُ عَلَيْكُمْ — through your disobedience to the command of Allah and through withholding the possessions of the people in your measures and weights — عَذَابَ يَوْمٍ مُحِيطٍ — that is to say: that there descends upon you a punishment on a day that encompasses you with its punishment. He made "al-muḥīṭ" (the encompassing) an attribute of the day, whereas it is really an attribute of "the punishment" — but that is understandable, and the punishment takes place on that day; it is like saying: "A part of your cloak has been burned."
