Surah Al-A’raf >> Currently viewing Surah Al-A’raf Ayat 85 (7:85)

Surah Al-A’raf Ayat 85 in Arabic Text

وَإِلَىٰ مَدۡيَنَ أَخَاهُمۡ شُعَيۡبٗاۚ قَالَ يَٰقَوۡمِ ٱعۡبُدُواْ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنۡ إِلَٰهٍ غَيۡرُهُۥۖ قَدۡ جَآءَتۡكُم بَيِّنَةٞ مِّن رَّبِّكُمۡۖ فَأَوۡفُواْ ٱلۡكَيۡلَ وَٱلۡمِيزَانَ وَلَا تَبۡخَسُواْ ٱلنَّاسَ أَشۡيَآءَهُمۡ وَلَا تُفۡسِدُواْ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ بَعۡدَ إِصۡلَٰحِهَاۚ ذَٰلِكُمۡ خَيۡرٞ لَّكُمۡ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤۡمِنِينَ
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

English Translation

Here you can read various translations of verse 85

Sahih International
And to [the people of] Madyan [We sent] their brother Shu’ayb. 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 and do not deprive people of their due and cause not corruption upon the earth after its reformation. That is better for you, if you should be believers.

Yusuf Ali
To the Madyan people We sent Shu’aib, one of their own brethren: he said: “O my people! worship Allah; Ye have no other god but Him. Now hath come unto you a clear (Sign) from your Lord! Give just measure and weight, nor withhold from the people the things that are their due; and do no mischief on the earth after it has been set in order: that will be best for you, if ye have Faith.

Abul Ala Maududi
And to Midian 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 ‘ and make no mischief on the earth after it has been set in good order. That is to your own good, if you truly believe.

Muhsin Khan
And to (the people of) Madyan (Midian), (We sent) their brother Shu’aib. He said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other Ilah (God) but Him. [La ilaha ill-Allah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah)].” 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 mischief on the earth after it has been set in order, that will be better for you, if you are believers.

Pickthall
And unto Midian (We sent) their brother, Shu’eyb. He said: O my people! Serve Allah. Ye have no other Allah save Him. Lo! a clear proof hath come unto you from your Lord; so give full measure and full weight and wrong not mankind in their goods, and work not confusion in the earth after the fair ordering thereof. That will be better for you, if ye are believers.

Dr. Ghali
And to Madyan (We sent) their brother Shuaayb. He said, “O my people! Worship Allah! In no way do you have any god other than He. A supreme evidence has already come to you from your Lord; so fill up the measure and the balance, and do not depreciate mankind their things; (i.e., their goods) and do not corrupt in the earth after its being righteous. That (Literally: those “orders”) is most charitable for you, in case you are believers.

Abdel Haleem
To the people of Midian We sent their brother, Shuayb. He said, ‘My people, serve God: you have no god other than Him. A clear sign has come to you from your Lord. Give full measure and weight and do not undervalue people’s goods; do not cause corruption in the land after it has been set in order: this is better for you, if you are believers.

Muhammad Junagarhi
اور ہم نے مدین کی طرف ان کے بھائی شعیب (علیہ السلام) کو بھیجا۔ انہوں نے فرمایا اے میری قوم! تم اللہ کی عبادت کرو اس کے سوا کوئی تمہارا معبود نہیں، تمہارے پاس تمہارے پروردگار کی طرف سے واضح دلیل آچکی ہے۔ پس تم ناپ اور تول پورا پورا کیا کرو اور لوگوں کو ان کی چیزیں کم کرکے مت دو اور روئے زمین میں، اس کے بعد کہ اس کی درستی کردی گئی، فساد مت پھیلاؤ، یہ تمہارے لئے نافع ہے اگر تم تصدیق کرو

Quran 7 Verse 85 Explanation

For those looking for commentary to help with the understanding of Surah Al-A’raf ayat 85, we’ve provided two Tafseer works below. The first is the tafseer of Abul Ala Maududi, the second is of Ibn Kathir.

Ala-Maududi

(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.

Ibn-Kathir

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.


Story of Shu`ayb, upon him be Peace, and the Land of Madyan

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,

﴿وَلَمَّا وَرَدَ مَآءَ مَدْيَنَ وَجَدَ عَلَيْهِ أُمَّةً مِّنَ النَّاسِ يَسْقُونَ﴾

(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.

﴿قَالَ يَاقَوْمِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ مَا لَكُمْ مِّنْ إِلَـهٍ غَيْرُهُ﴾

(He said: “O my people! Worship Allah! You have no other God but Him”) and this is the call of all Messengers,

﴿قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم بَيِّنَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ﴾

(“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,

﴿وَيْلٌ لِّلْمُطَفِّفِينَ ﴾

(Woe to Al-Mutaffifin (those who give less in measure and weight)…) ﴿83:1﴾ until He said,

﴿لِرَبِّ الْعَـلَمِينَ﴾

(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:

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surah al-a'raf ayat 85
surah al-a'raf ayat 86
surah al-a'raf ayat 87
surah al-a'raf ayat 88
surah al-a'raf ayat 89

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