Transliteration:( Wa ilaa Madyana akhaahum Shu'aybaa; qaala yaa qawmi' budul laaha maa lakum min ilaahin ghairuhoo qad jaaa'atkum baiyinatum mir Rabbikum fa awful kaila walmeezaana wa laa tabkhasun naasa ashyaa'ahum wa laa tufsidoo fil ardi ba'da islaahihaa; zaalikum khairul lakum in kuntum mu'mineen )
203. By this is meant Allah Almighty sent Hazrat Shuaib ibn Makeel, ibn Yashjar ibn Madian Madian married Hazrat Lut's (On whom be peace) daughter Reena. From this marriage, many children were born which filled the village. This village was named Madian. Hazrat Shuaib (On whom be peace) was handsome and possessed a commanding personality. His daughter. Hazrat Safoora. was given in marriage to Hazrat Musa (On whom be peace)
204. This tells us that the infidels too are duty-bound by some laws because Hazrat Shuaib (On whom be peace) had given orders to his infidel people to be accurate with the scale. and measurement. Their disregard for this command resulted in Divine punishment descending upon these people. The infidels too would be punished on the Day of Judgement for their omission of Salaah. Says Allah Almighty: "They said, we were not used to offering prayer" (S74:V43). However, in terms of Islamic law worship is not obligatory upon the infidels.
205. Because Prophets of Allah Almighty came upon it. He instituted prophetic laws upon it which helped to rectify and reform the village. Now you must not cause mischief and rebellion through infidelity and sin.
206. By this is meant if you remain accurate in your weight and measurement after declaring faith, refrain from causing causing mischief, that would be better for you because you would be rewarded in the Hereafter for this. The says that on Holy Prophet  ?the Day of Judgement the honest merchant will be in the company of the Prophet of Allah Almighty. From this we learn that the infidels will not gain any benefits from their honesty in business in the Hereafter. The rewards of the Hereafter are only for the believers.
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85. And to (the people of) Madyan, (We sent) their brother Shu`ayb. He said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but Him. Verily, a clear proof (sign) from your Lord has come unto you; so give full measure and full weight and wrong not men in their things, and do not do mischief on the earth after it has been set in order, that will be better for you, if you are believers.
Muhammad bin Ishaq said, “They (the people of Madyan) are the descendents of Madyan, son of Midyan, son of Ibrahim. Shu`ayb was the son of Mikil bin Yashjur. And in the Syrian language, his name was Yathrun (Jethro)”. I (Ibn Kathir) say, Madyan was the name of the tribe and also a city that is close to Ma`an on route to the Hijaz (from Ash-Sham). Allah said in another Ayah,
(And when he arrived at the water (a well) of Madyan he found there a group of men watering (their flocks).) ﴿28:23﴾ They are also the people of Al-Aykah (the Woods), as we will mention later on, Allah willing, and our trust is in Him.
(He said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but Him”) and this is the call of all Messengers,
(“Verily, a clear proof (sign) from your Lord has come unto you;”) meaning, `Allah has presented the proof and evidences of the truth of what I brought you.’ He then advised them and commanded them to give full measure and full weight and not to wrong men in their dealings, meaning, to refrain from cheating people in buying and selling. They used to treacherously avoid giving full weight and measure. Allah said in other Ayat,
(Woe to Al-Mutaffifin (those who give less in measure and weight)…) ﴿83:1﴾ until He said,
(before the Lord of all that exists) ﴿83:6﴾. These Ayat contain a stern warning and sure promise that we ask Allah to save us from. Shu`ayb was called `Speaker of the Prophets’, because of his eloquent words and eloquent advice, and Allah stated that Shu`ayb said:
(7:85) And to Midian[69] We sent forth their brother Shu’ayb He exhorted them: O my people! Serve Allah, you have no god but Him. Indeed a clear proof has come to you from your Lord. So give just weight and measure and diminish not to men their things ‘[70] and make no mischief on the earth after it has been set in good order.[71] That is to your own good, if you truly believe .[72]
69. The territory of Madyan (Midian) lay to the north-west of Hijaz and south of Palestine on the coast of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, and part of the territory stretched to the northern border of the Sinai Peninsula. The Midianites and their towns were situated at the crossroads of the trade routes from Yemen through Makka and Yanbu’ to Syria along the Red Sea coast, and from Iraq to Egypt. Midian was, therefore, quite well known to the Arabs. In fact it persisted in their memory long after its destruction for the Arab trade caravans en route to Syria and Egypt passed through territories which were full of the ruins of their monuments.
Another point worth noting about the people of Midian is that they were reckoned to be descendants of Midyan, a son of the Prophet Abraharn born of his third wife, Qatura. According to a custom of the time, persons who attached themselves to a notable family were gradually counted as members of that family, as the descendants of that family’s ancestor. It is for this reason that a large majority of Arabs were called the descendants of Ismai’l. Likewise those who embraced faith at the hands of Ya’qab’s sons bore the general name ‘the People of Israel’. Now, since the inhabitants of Midian owed allegiance to Midyan, son of Abraham, they were referred to as the descendants of Midyan and their territory was called Midian.
In view of this it should not be thought that the Prophet Shu’ayb invited them, for the first time, to follow Divine Guidance. At the time of the advent of Shu’ayb their state was no different from that of the Israelites at the time of the advent of Moses. They too were originally a Muslim people who had subsequently moved far away from Islam. For six to seven centuries they lived amongst a people who were steeped in polytheism and moral corruption, and this led to their contamination with polytheism and moral corruption. Despite their deviation and corruption, however, they claimed to be the followers of the true faith, and were proud of their religious identification.
70. This shows that the people of Midian suffered from two major ailments – polytheism and dishonesty in business. Shu’ayb devoted his efforts to purging them of those evils.
71. The import of this statement has been explained earlier in (notes 44-5) above. In his exhortations to his people, Shu’ayb emphasized that they should not allow the order of life, established by the previous Prophets on the foundations of true faith and sound morals, to be corrupted by false beliefs and moral depravity.
72. This clearly shows that the people concerned claimed to be believers, as we have already pointed out. In fact, they were originally Muslims who had drifted away from Islam, who had become enmeshed in a range of evils. They not only professed to be believers, but took great pride in being so. See( n. 69) above – Ed. Shu’ayb made this fact the starting-point of his preaching. He told them that if they indeed were believers they should live up to that fact; they should consider their salvation to lie in practising goodness and virtue, honesty and integrity; and they should distinguish between good and evil on the basis of the standards followed by righteous people rather than of those who believed neither in God nor in the Hereafter.
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