Prophet Shuai’b’s people were fraudsters

... in weighing and Allah’s earthquake buried them

“And to[the people of] Madyan[We sent] their brother Shuai’b. He said, “O my people, worship Allah: you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you clear evidence from your Lord. So fulfill the measure and weight [of merchandise you sell] and do not deprive people of their due and cause no corruption upon the earth after its reformation. That is better for you, it you should be believers.”

--- Qur’an chapter 7 verse 85

The people of Madyan used to live in their town[Madyan], which was a village in the land of Ma’an in Syria[Sham], east of Mount Sanai, which was very close to the water body [Dead Sea] in which the people of Lut were destroyed. They were progeny of Madyan bun Madyaan, bun Ibrahim and Prophet Shuai’b was sent to them as their Prophet. He was the son of Meekeel bun Yashjun.

As a renowned historian Ibn ‘Asakir wrote: It was narrated that, his mother was the daughter of Prophet Lut. He was among those who embraced Islam in the hands of Prophet Ibrahim. He then migrated to Damascus with him. And some salafi scholars said, he used to be called, “Khateebul Anbiya”, “The Preacher among the Prophets”, by virtue of his eloquence and fluency in speech.

However, his people of Madyan used to be stern none believers, who would block people’s path ways and would frighten passers-bye. They used to worship a three called “Aykah”, from the village of Al-ayk…They were among the most vicious people on earth. And they would drastically reduce the scale or would under weigh[short-change]merchandise they would sell to their clients, in order to make “supernormal” profit. For instances, they would punch holes under the cans they used to scoop[weigh or measure] rice or corn to buyers, so that, much of what they[customers] had already paid for would drip back to their sacks and satchels for them to gain extra illegitimate profit.

Analyzing this historic narrative, the renowned Qur’anic commentator and interpreter, Abdallah Yusuf Ali revealed that: “Midianites were in the path of a commercial highway of Asia, that between two such opulent and highly organized nations as Egypt and the Mesopotamian group comprising Assyria and Babylonia. Their besetting sins are thus characterized here: [1]giving short measure or weight[makayeel wal mawazeen], whereas the strictest commercial probity is necessary for success, [2] a more general form of such fraud, depriving people of rightful dues, [3] producing mischief and disorder, whereas peace and order had been established[again in literal as well as a metaphorical sense]; [4] not content with upsetting settled life, taking to highway robbery, literally as well as [5] metaphorically, in two ways, cutting off people from access to the worship of Allah, and abusing religion and piety for crooked purposes, i.e, exploiting religion itself for their crooked ends, as when a man builds houses of prayer out of a unlawful gains or ostentatiously gives charity out of money which he has obtained by force or fraud, etc. After setting out this catalogue of besetting sins Shuai’b makes two appeals to the past: [1] You began as an insignificant tribe, and by Allah’s favor you increased and multiplied in numbers and resources: do not then owe a duty to Allah to fulfil His Law? [2] What was the result in the case of those who fell into sin? Will you not take warning by their example?”

But the people of Madyan never heeded to the warning of their own kith and kin, Prophet Shuai’b, whom Allah sent to them. This was in spite of the fact that, Madyan was as well torn by internal conflict, Shuai’b came to them as a peace-maker, not by virtue of his own wisdom, but as an appeal to the truth, righteousness and justice of Allah. But the real motives of his opponents were selfishness, arrogance, violence, lawlessness, and injustice. But he appealed to their better nature, and was prepared to argue on the basis that the party which wanted to suppress those who believe in Allah’s Message and in righteousness, had some sincere mental difficulty in accepting Shuai’b’s mission. “If,” he says to them, “that is the case, do you think it justifies your intolerance, your violence, or your persecution? On the contrary, events will prove by themselves who is right and who is wrong. “

Narrating their story to Prophet Muhammad[PBUH], Allah says in Qur’an chapter[Hud] 11 verse 89 to 95, that: “And O my people, let not [your] dissension from me cause you to be struck by similar to what struck the people of Noah or the people of Hud or the people of Salih. And the people of Lot[Sodom and Gomorrah, the first gays] are not far away from you. And ask for forgives from your Lord and then repent to Him. Indeed, my Lord is Merciful and Affectionate.” They said: “O Shuai’b, we do not understand much of what you say, and indeed, we consider you among us a weak. And if not for your family, we would have stoned you [to death]; and you are not to us one to respect.” He said, “O my people, is my family more respected for power by you than Allah? But you put Him behind your backs [in neglect]. Indeed, my Lord is encompassing of what you do. And O my people, work accruing to your position; indeed, I am working. You are going to know to whom will come a punishment that will disgrace him and who is a liar. So watch; indeed, I am with you a watcher,[awaiting the outcome],” And when Our[Allah’s]command came, We saved Shuai’b and those who believed with him, by mercy from Us. And the shriek [tender] seized those who had wronged, and they became within their homes [corpses] fallen prone. As if they have never prospered therein. Then, away with Madyan as Thamud was taken away.”

Allah first sent a cloud upon them which overshadowed them from the rays of the sun, and they felt some cool, comfortable and serene atmosphere and invited each other to stay right under this cloud, hoping that this divine ‘luxury’ will last long. When they gathered in huge numbers under this ‘serene atmosphere’, then suddenly, Allah sent forth a fire, pelting them with its flame and burning the entire village with its severe and scorching heat for seven consecutive days. And to make it worse, they were engulfed in a terrible earthquake which buried some of them alive inside their homes.

According to Wahab bun Manbah: Later after Allah rescued Prophet Shuai’b and his entourage of believers, he and them all died in Makkah, and their graves could be located on the west-end of Ka’bah, the black cube.

Discovery of the ruins of the people of Shuai’b vindicates the authenticity of the holy Qur’an

Geographers have now discovered the habitation of people of Shuai’b close to the present city of Tabuk in Saudi Arabia at exactly where the Qur’an mentioned the incident happened. One can still visit this ruins and witness the authenticity of these verses of the Qur’an. Prophet Muhammad[PBUH] was neither a geographer nor a traveler. It is very clear that Allah revealed this information to him who then transmitted it to us through the Qur’an. The url link of a two minute video documentary here on youtube showcases the ruins in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQnWHJMt074.

Are our modern business corporations recurring the fraud that destroyed people of Madyan?

It is fascinating to read how Nisaar Nadiadwala, a speaker and writer on socio-educational issues from the Islamic perspective, tried to connect the dot between this historic narrative and corporate greed of our current and contemporary period, which is continuously eating deep into the wealth of nations and citizenry, thereby worsening the current global economic meltdown.

In an article on his Facebook blog[October 6, 2011] entitled, “Lessons in Islamic Finance from the Story of Prophet Shuai’b and his people”, he wrote: “ Financial frauds are a big burden on the society where all the sections get effected. Even today Banks are declaring themselves bankrupts and so do multinational companies. The Airlines, The Banks, The Automobile GM all have lost billion dollars of American taxpayers in last half decade. Shamelessly these companies even demanded governments to bail them out again from the tax payers money!

How many Americans remember the great fraud of Enron and how many senior citizens lost their capital and savings? Shareholders lost nearly $11 billion when Enron's stock price, which hit a high of US$90 per share in mid-2000, plummeted to less than $1 by the end of November 2001.Books after books are being published exposing white collar legal robberies around the world.

India topping the list with almost $1500 Billion black money in Swiss Banks. In humor someone once remarked: The capital of Pakistan has always been in Washington but the capital of India has being shifted from New Delhi to Swiss Banks! In Mumbai financial circle they say: The more number of times you have declared bankruptcy, the bigger man you are..(because you have not loss the money but eaten up legally).

The people of Shuaib robbed people, the people of capitalism also rob people but legally, with the help of local laws. The people of Shuaib robbed on highways, the people of Capitalism rob everywhere from Government offices to Toll centers and also in educational Institutes. The mediclaim [Medicare] has given a license to many doctors to rob people medically. There are no statistics available on mediclaim [Medicare] but the common man surely finds himself shelling out more money in various unwanted tests.”

No wonder the punishment of Allah is due upon the financial fraudsters…as Surah Takasur says: “Woe to every slanderer and back biter who amasses wealth and keeps on counting it . He thinks that his wealth will be forever?”

What Mr. Nisaar lamented here includes public utility companies [in the western world], such as Con Edison, Optimum, Verizon etc, in American that reap off their customers big time, with some ‘creative’ extra charges on their bills, that could not to justified, aimed at maximizing their profit margins.

And so far as this corporate greed continues at the expense of the poor and the vulnerable in human societies, the current bleak state of the macro economies of the world would continue to be on the downward spiral or would be running down the slippery slope. We have to thank Allah that, He is reluctant to unleash similar swift punishment of the ancient generation above that innovated this greed and fraud, by virtue of being part of the ummah or the generation sent to Prophet Muhammad[PBUH]-the last Prophet and Messenger of Allah who was sent as a “mercy to mankind”.

The pictures above showcase the location of the ruins of the people of Prophet Shuai’b[Al-Bada, Northern Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Dhiba are nearby major cities. Exact location with View Map. These pictures were obtained through the coordination of GPS [Global Positioning System].

Husseini Yushau BabalWaiz, is the Research & Outreach Coordinator at the Center for Media & Peace Initiatives Inc. New York, Author of three books, including "Islam Promotes Tolerance & Prohibits Terrorism-Reviving the Islamic Advocacy of Mercy and Magnanimity to Mankind" & Tutor in Arabic & Islamic Studies in New York, babalwaiz71@gmail.com.

NB: Folks, this is the 12th in the new series entitled: "Delving Deep Inside the Islamic Historic Memory Lane", which will be running for months, even years, aimed at showcasing the amazing historical phenomena that happened in the pre and post Islamic world. Next week, our series will dwell on Prophets Ismael & Prophet Ishaaque, both were sons of Prophet Ibrahim[Alaihimu Salam].

So please read, comment, forward and share with as many people as possible on social media.

References:

Al-bidayah Wal-Nihayah[The Beginning & The End],by Imam Hafiz Ismael Ibn Kathir, vol 1 of[10] vols.

Asbaabul Halakul Umamul Salifati-Kamaa Waradat fil Qur'anil Kareem[Reasons for the Destruction of the Earlier/Ancient Societies- As it Appears in the Holy Qur'an] by, Saeed Muhammad Baba Seela.

Al-Muntazam-Fii Tareekhil Umam Wal-Mulook, [Periodicals on the History of [medieval] Societies & Kingdoms] by, Abil Faraj, Abdul Rahman Bun Aliyi Bun Muhammad Ibnil Jawzi. vol. [1] of [18] vols.

Qisasil Qur'an-Min Adam Alihi Salamu Ilaa Ashabul Feel[Tales of the Qur'an- From Adam Peace be upon Him to the Companions of the Elephants], by, Dr. Muhammad Bakr Ismael.

Qisasil Anbiyah,[Tales of the Prophets] by Abil Fadah, Imam Hafiz Ibn Kathir.

The Holy Qur’an-Translation & Commentary, by Abdallah Yusuf Ali.

160 Mysteries & Miracles of the Holy Qur'an, by Dr. Mazhar Qazi

The Holy Qur'an-English Translation of Meaning & Commentary, by Abdallah Yusuf Ali.