“And fear Him who created you and the earlier generations. (184)”

“Then We destroyed the rest,” that is, We destroyed them. “And We rained upon them a rain; how dreadful was the rain of those who had been warned!” Wahb ibn Munabbih said: “Sulphur and fire.” “Surely in that is a sign, yet most of them were not believers. And indeed, your Lord is truly the Almighty, the Most Merciful.”

His saying, exalted is He: “The people of the Thicket denied the messengers”—they were the people of Shuʿayb, peace be upon him. The Iraqi reciters read al-Aykah here and in Surah Sad, with a hamzah, a silent lām, and a kasrah on the tāʾ. The others read Laykah, with an open lām and tāʾ and without a hamzah, regarding it as the name of a town; it is therefore indeclinable. They did not differ concerning Surah al-Hijr and Surah Qaf: in both, it is read with a hamzah and with kasrah. Al-Aykah means a dense grove of interwoven trees.

“When Shuʿayb said to them”—He did not say, “their brother,” because Shuʿayb was not of the people of the Thicket by lineage. But when Midian was mentioned, He said, “their brother Shuʿayb,” because he was one of them. Allah, Most High, had sent him to his own people, the people of Midian, as well as to the people of the Thicket.

“Will you not fear Allah? Indeed, I am a trustworthy messenger to you. So fear Allah and obey me. I ask of you no reward for this; my reward is only with the Lord of the worlds.” The call of all these prophets, as Allah relates from them, was expressed in one form because they were united in enjoining mindfulness of Allah, obedience, sincerity in worship, 52/a and refraining from taking payment for calling people to Allah and conveying the message.

“Give full measure, and do not be among those who cause loss”—that is, those who diminish people’s rights in measure and weight.