It has been said that this means: “Or you must enter our religion.” Shuayb replied, “It is not for us to enter it.”

It has also been said that the meaning is: if we were to become part of your religion; thus, the word “returned” here means “became.”

It has further been said that he meant Shuayb’s people, since they had been disbelievers and then believed; so Shuayb answered on their behalf.

His saying, “Our Lord encompasses all things in knowledge,” means that His knowledge encompasses everything. “In Allah we place our trust” concerning that with which you threaten us. Then, when Shuayb had despaired of their ever attaining salvation, he said: “Our Lord, decide between us and our people in truth”—that is, judge between us. The term “the Decider” means the Judge. “And You are the best of those who decide,” that is, the best of judges.

“And the eminent ones among his people who disbelieved said, ‘If you follow Shuayb, then you will surely be losers.’ (90) So the earthquake seized them, and they lay lifeless in their homes. (91) Those who denied Shuayb became as though they had never lived there. Those who denied Shuayb were themselves the losers. (92)”

“And the eminent ones among his people who disbelieved said, ‘If you follow Shuayb’”—and abandon your religion—“then you will surely be losers,” cheated and deprived. Ata said: distressed. Al-Dahhak said: helpless.

“So the earthquake seized them.” Al-Kalbi said: it was a violent earthquake. Ibn Abbas and others said: Allah opened for them a gate from Hell and sent upon them an intense heat that took away their breath. Neither shade nor water availed them. They would enter underground passages seeking relief from the heat, but whenever they entered them, they found them hotter than the open air. They then fled into the open land, whereupon Allah sent them a cloud containing a pleasant breeze, and it shaded them ⦗134/a⦘—this was the canopy. Finding it cool and breezy, they called one another until all of them gathered beneath the cloud: their men, women, and children. Allah caused it to blaze upon them as fire, and the earth shook beneath them. They were burned like locusts being fried, until they became ashes.

It has also been related that Allah withheld the wind from them for seven days, then subjected them to the heat. Yazid al-Jurayri said: Allah subjected them to the heat for seven days, then a mountain was raised for them in the distance. A man came to it and found rivers and springs beneath it. They all gathered under it, and that mountain fell upon them. This is the meaning of His saying, “the punishment of the Day of the Canopy” (al-Shuara 89).

Qatada said: Allah sent Shuayb to the people of the Thicket and the people of Midian. The people of the Thicket were destroyed by the canopy, while the people of Midian were seized by the Cry: Gabriel, peace be upon him, cried out at them with a single cry, and they all perished.

Abu Abdullah al-Bajali said: Abu Jad, Hawwaz, Hutti, Kalaman, Safas, and Qarashat were kings of Midian; and their king, in the time of Shuayb—upon him