Transliteration:( Qaaloo yaa Shu'aybu 'a salaatuka ta'muruka an natruka maa ya'budu aabaaa'unaaa aw an naf'ala feee amwaalinaa maa nashaaa'oo innaka la antal haleemur rasheed )
178. This tells us that to utter words of praise for the Prophet with the intention of showing disrespect too is an act of infidelity, because this is not praise but it is a joke and flattery. From this the writers and reciters of Na'at Shareef should take heed to rectify their intentions in these matters. The infidels had called their Prophet wise and upright. Their words were good but their intentions were evil.
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87. They said: “O Shu`ayb! Does your Salah command you that we give up what our fathers used to worship, or that we give up doing what we like with our property Verily, you are the forbearer, right-minded!”
They said to Shu`ayb, in mockery,
(Does your Salah) Al-A`mash said, “This means your reading.”
(command you that we give up what our fathers used to worship,) meaning the idols and statues.
(or that we give up doing what we like with our property) This means, “Should we abandon our practice of lightening the scales because of your statement This is our wealth and we will do with it as we please.” Al-Hasan said concerning Allah’s statement,
(Does your Salah command you that we give up what our fathers used to worship,)﴿11:87﴾ “By Allah, this means that his prayer commanded them to abandon what their fathers used to worship.” At-Thawri said concerning Allah’s statement,
(or that we give up doing what we like with our property) “They were speaking in reference to the paying of Zakah (charity). ”
(Verily, you are the forbearer right-minded!) Ibn `Abbas, Maymun bin Mihran, Ibn Jurayj, Ibn Aslam, and Ibn Jarir all said, “These enemies of Allah were only saying this in mockery. May Allah disfigure them and curse them from ever receiving His mercy. And verily, He did so.”
(11:87) They replied: ‘O Shu’ayb! Does your Prayer enjoin upon you[96] that we should forsake the deities whom our forefathers worshipped, or that we should give up using our wealth as we please?[97] Do you fancy that you, and only you, are forbearing and right-directed?’
96. This taunting question was an expression of the feelings of hatred those ungodly people cherished against the religious observances of Prophet Shuaib (peace be upon him) and other God fearing pious people. They selected Salat as a target of their taunt because it is the first and foremost outwardly observance of true religion which naturally has always been strongly hated by all ungodly wicked people. This hatred may also be noticed today among those who deliberately intend to follow the wicked ways, for they consider religious observances to be the greatest threat to their evil ways. As they regard Salat to be a symbol of the coming trouble, they begin to taunt the one who observes it. For they know that the victim of the disease of religiosity will not rest content with his own reformation but will exert his utmost to reform others as well. They fear that he will preach piety and righteous ways to them and criticize their ungodly and immoral ways. That is why Salat becomes the target of the taunts of wicked people. And if the person who observes Salat actually begins to preach the observance of virtues and criticize their evil ways just as they had feared, then they condemn it even more vehemently as though it were the cause of the whole trouble.
97. These two things clearly distinguish the theory of the way of ignorance from the theory of the way of Islam. The way of ignorance is based on the assumption that one should follow the way of his forefathers, and for the mere reason that it has been inherited from his forefathers. Its second assumption is that one’s faith and religion are concerned only with worship, and these have nothing to do with the worldly affairs of life, in which one is absolutely free to do as he pleases. On the other hand, the basic theory of Islam is that every way that is not founded on the submission to Allah is wrong, and, therefore, should not be followed, for no other way has any proof of its truth from reason, knowledge and revelation. Besides, Islam is not confined to the worship of Allah but it covers in its entirety all aspects of cultural, social, economic and political life. This is because all that man possesses really belongs to Allah and, therefore, man has absolutely no right to do as he pleases with his possessions.
Incidentally, this demand of the people of Prophet Shuaib (peace be upon him) that they had every right to do as they pleased with their goods and possessions shows that there is nothing new about the theory of the division of life into separate compartments, religious and mundane. Some three thousand years or so ago they insisted on this division just as western and westernized people insist on it today. And they are absolutely wrong to presume that their division is the result of the light that had dawned upon humanity because of the intellectual progress that man has made as a result of the evolutionary process. Thus it is clear that it is not light but darkness which prevailed with the same intensity thousands of years ago as it is today and that the conflict of Islam against it is also as old as that.
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