Tafsir of Surah Hood - Verse 89

وَيقَوْمِ لاَ يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شِقَاقِى

(And O my people! Let not my Shiqaq cause you) This means, "Do not let your hatred and enmity of me cause you to persist in your corruption and disbelief. If you continue this way, you will suffer the same vengeance and torment that overcame Nuh's people, Hud's people, Salih's people and Lut's people." Qatadah said,

وَيقَوْمِ لاَ يَجْرِمَنَّكُمْ شِقَاقِى

(And O my people! Let not my Shiqaq cause you) "He is saying, `Do not be influenced by your differing with me."' As-Suddi said, "This means your enmity of me should not lead you to continue in misguidance and disbelief, or else you will be afflicted by what afflicted them." Concerning His statement,

وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ

(and the people of Lut are not far off from you!) It has been said that this refers to the period of time. Qatadah said, "This means that they were only destroyed before you yesterday." It has also been said that it refers to place. Actually, the verse carries both meanings.

وَاسْتَغْفِرُواْ رَبَّكُمْ

(And ask forgiveness of your Lord) from the previous sins.

ثُمَّ تُوبُواْ إِلَيْهِ

(and turn unto Him in repentance.) In whatever evil actions you may encounter in the future. Concerning his statement,

إِنَّ رَبِّى رَحِيمٌ وَدُودٌ

(Verily, my Lord is Most Merciful, Most Loving.) to those who repent.

After having given this good counsel to them, he warned them of the punishment of Allah Ta` ala. He said:

وَيَا قَوْمِ لَا يَجْرِ‌مَنَّكُمْ شِقَاقِي أَن يُصِيبَكُم مِّثْلُ مَا أَصَابَ قَوْمَ نُوحٍ أَوْ قَوْمَ هُودٍ أَوْ قَوْمَ صَالِحٍ ۚ وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ

And 0 my people, let not your hostility towards me cause you to suffer what was suffered by the people of Nuh, or the people of Hud, or the people of Salih. And the people of Lut are not far from you.

The sense of the last sentence is that the overturned habitations of the people of Sayyidna Lut (علیہ السلام) were close to Madyan where they were. Then, in terms of time, the punishment that came upon them was very close. From this they could learn their lesson and leave their obstinacy.

Hearing this, his people were enraged. They said that had it not been for the support he had from his clan, they would have stoned him to death. Despite this threat, Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) true to his mettle as a prophet, did not hesitate to tell them that they feared his clan all right, but would have no fear of Allah who holds everything in His power.

Finally, when his people did not listen to anything said to them, Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) told them that they could now wait for the punishment. After that, Allah Ta ala took out Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) and those who had believed in him, as is the Divine practice, from that habitation and the rest of them were destroyed instantly at the harsh Cry of Sayyidna Jibra'il (علیہ السلام) .

Injunctions and Rulings:

Rules about Lessening of Weights and Measures

One of the reasons why punishment fell on the people of Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) was their practice of weighing and measuring less than due - called tatfif. The Holy Qur'an has described the severe punishment for those who do that in Surah al-Mutaffifin which opens with the verse: وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ (Woe to those who give less - 83:1). There is a consensus of the entire Muslim Ummah that doing so is strictly Haram (unlawful). Quoting a saying of Sayyidna ` Umar ؓ ، Imam Malik has said in Mu'atta' that weighing and measuring less essentially means that someone does not fulfill the right of another person due on him, fully and duly. In fact, makes it less, whether it happens to be something given by weight, or measure, or something of another kind. If an employee falls short in performing his or her assigned duty, or an office worker, or a laborer cuts his working hours short, or fails to fulfill his job assignment as due, then, they all will be counted in this cat-egory. Anyone who does not perform his or her Salah with due consideration of everything obligatory and mash En in it has also committed the crime of this ` tatfif.' May Allah keep all of us protected from it!

Ruling

It appears in Tafsir al-Qurtubi that the people of Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) would save gold and silver by trimming the edges of gold and silver coins, like dinar and dirham, circulating in the country as official currency, and which they would channel back into circulation at par value. Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) prohibited them from doing so.

In Hadith as well, the Holy Prophet ﷺ has declared the chipping of the coins of an Islamic state to be Haram (unlawful). Tafsir authority, Zayd ibn Aslam has said exactly this while explaining the

verse of the Qur'an: تِسْعَةُ رَ‌هْطٍ يُفْسِدُونَ فِي الْأَرْ‌ضِ وَلَا يُصْلِحُونَ ; (nine family heads spreading corruption in the land and not correcting [ their ways ] - 27:48). He says that these people of the city mentioned in the verse used to chip off gold and silver from dinar and dirham coins and ran a profitable business of their own through this source - something the Qur'an calls a great corruption.

During the Khilafah of Sayyidna ` Umar ibn ` Abd al-` Aziz (رح) ، someone was arrested while he was cutting a dirham coin. He was awarded a punishment of lashes and was paraded around head shaved. (Tafsir al Qurtubi)

There are two types of acceptance of a precept—one is routine or unconscious acceptance by imitation and the other is acceptance after finding it to be right. In the first case, man accepts something because others accept it. In the second case man accepts it because, on the basis of reasoning, he found that it was right. While the former is only a formal acceptance, the latter is conscious discovery. Discovery of Truth at the level of reason is the real asset of a believer. This leads to that live, active belief which prompts him and enables him to stand in the midst of people and start representing the Truth to them, unmindful of everything else. Conscious discovery of truth is a substitute for everything else. One who receives this bounty is never in need of anything else. An unbeliever is satisfied with material achievement. But the believer is satisfied only when his reason is addressed. On receiving sustenance of this kind (conscious discovery), it becomes impossible for anyone to take a stand against it. Contradiction between talk and action is the result of formal faith, while consistency in talk and action is the result of conscious faith. In his interpretation of the word ‘shiqaq,’ meaning ‘opposition,’ Hasan al-Basri, the famous Sufi, says, ‘Should your enmity against me make you leave the path of Faith, you will be liable to receive the punishment meted out to the unbelievers.’ (Al-Qurtubi). Since the missionary appears as an ordinary man to the people, his critical approach is extremely disturbing to those who have attained a high status in society. That an ordinary man should venture to criticise them and their great ones seems unconscionable to them. That is why they develop a hatred for the preacher and become obdurate towards him. The development of such a mentality in a man amounts to his being put to a severe test, because he considers even a godly message insignificant if it is brought by an ‘ordinary’ preacher. In the process of ignoring a human being, he ignores God Himself.