Tafseer of Hud · Hud · 11:87
They said, "O Shu'ayb, does your prayer command you that we should leave what our fathers worship or not do with our wealth what we please? Indeed, you are the forbearing, the discerning!"
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: قَالُوا يَا شُعَيْبُ أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ إِنَّكَ لأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ (They said: "O Shuʿayb, does your prayer command you that we should leave what our fathers worshipped, or that we should not do with our wealth what we will? Truly, you are the forbearing, the right-minded!") (87).
Abū Jaʿfar said: Allah, exalted be His mention, says: The people of Shuʿayb said: "O Shuʿayb, does your prayer command you that we abandon the worship of what our fathers worshipped of idols and images — أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ — of breaking the coins and clipping them, and shortchanging the people in measure and weight?" — إِنَّكَ لأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ — by which is meant: the one whom anger does not drive to do what he would not do in a state of contentment — الرَّشِيدُ — that is: right-minded in his affair by commanding them to leave the worship of idols.
18487 — Maḥmūd ibn Khidāsh related to us, saying: Ḥammād ibn Khālid al-Khayyāṭ related to us, saying: Dāwūd ibn Qays related to us, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, concerning the words of Allah: أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ إِنَّكَ لأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ — he said: "Among that which he forbade them was the clipping of the coins" — or he said: "the cutting of the coins" — the doubt is from Ḥammād.
18488 — Sahl ibn Mūsā al-Rāzī related to us, saying: Ibn Abī Fudayk related to us, on the authority of Abū Mawdūd, who said: I heard Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī say: "It reached me that the people of Shuʿayb were punished because of the cutting of coins, and I found that in the Qurʾān: أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ ."
18489 — Ibn Wakīʿ related to us, saying: Zayd ibn Ḥabbāb related to us, on the authority of Mūsā ibn ʿUbayda, on the authority of Muḥammad ibn Kaʿb al-Quraẓī, who said: "The people of Shuʿayb were punished because of their cutting of coins. They said: يَا شُعَيْبُ أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ ."
18490 — [...] he said: Ḥammād ibn Khālid al-Khayyāṭ related to us, on the authority of Dāwūd ibn Qays, on the authority of Zayd ibn Aslam, concerning His words: أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ — he said: "Among that which he forbade them was the clipping of the coins."
18491 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us; Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: قَالُوا يَا شُعَيْبُ أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ — he said: "He had forbidden them to cut gold and silver coins, and they said: These are our possessions — we do with them what we will: if we wish we cut them, if we wish we exchange them, and if we wish we throw them away!"
18492 — [...] he said: And Ibn Wahb informed us; and Dāwūd ibn Qays al-Marrī informed me that he heard Zayd ibn Aslam say concerning the words of Allah: قَالُوا يَا شُعَيْبُ أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ — Zayd said: "Among that was the cutting of the coins."
And His words: أَصَلاتُكَ — al-Aʿmash said concerning its explanation:
18493 — Al-Ḥasan related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Al-Thawrī informed us, on the authority of al-Aʿmash, concerning His words: أَصَلاتُكَ — he said: "Your recitation."
Now if someone were to ask: How was it said: أَصَلاتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَنْ نَتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ آبَاؤُنَا أَوْ أَنْ نَفْعَلَ فِي أَمْوَالِنَا مَا نَشَاءُ — when Shuʿayb had in fact forbidden them to do with their wealth what we have mentioned that he forbade them therein?
Then we answer: Its meaning is other than what you suppose. The Arabic grammarians differed concerning this.
Some of the Basrans said: The meaning is: "Does your prayer command you that we leave what our fathers worshipped, or that we leave doing with our wealth what we will?" — and not: "does it command us to do with our wealth what we will" — for that is not what he commanded them.
And some of the Kufans said something similar. And there is another explanation: one turns the command into a prohibition, as if one wished to say: "Does your prayer command you this, and forbid us that?" — then both are in the accusative: the first depends on "does it command you" and the second is in apposition to "what" in مَا يَعْبُدُ . And if that be the case, the meaning is: "Does your prayer command you that we leave what our fathers worshipped, or that we leave doing with our wealth what we will?"
It has been reported from some readers that they read it as: مَا تَشَاءُ (what You will).
Abū Jaʿfar said: Whoever reads it thus has no difficulty with it — then the second "an" is placed in apposition to the first "an."
As for their words to Shuʿayb: إِنَّكَ لأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ — they were the enemies of Allah, and they said this in mockery of him. With these words they mocked and ridiculed him.
In accordance with what we have said concerning this, the exegetes spoke.
Mention of who said this:
18494 — Al-Qāsim related to us, saying: Al-Ḥusayn related to us, saying: Ḥajjāj related to me, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj: إِنَّكَ لأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ — he said: "They mocked."
18495 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us; Ibn Zayd said concerning His words: إِنَّكَ لأَنْتَ الْحَلِيمُ الرَّشِيدُ — "The mockers mocked: you are indeed the forbearing, the right-minded!"