Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

181. “Fill up the measure, and be not of the cheaters,”

182. “And weigh (things) with a right balance,”

183. “And do not defraud people in their (due) goods, and do not act corruptly in the earth, making mischief.”

The act of defrauding is unlawful, and observing the right of people is obligatory,

“Fill up the measure...”.

The Arabic word /kayl/ (measure) usually is used for liquid substances; the word /qistas/ (balance) is used for weights; and the word /’ašya’/ (goods), in this sense, is used for the things which are counted or bought and sold by the pieces.

In these holy verses, there are two divine enjoinments and two prohibitions which are complementary of each other: (Fill up - and be not), (weight - do not defraud)

It is mentioned in some Islamic narrations that the persons who do not tell the blemish or defect of their goods to the customer the angels will curse them, and those who deceive others with guile and plotting are the worst people.¹

However, like other prophets a part of whose history was mentioned in this Surah before, Shu‘ayb, after his general and godly invitation to piety and the obedience to the command of Allah, emphasized on the ethical and social deviations of that environment and criticized them in the second part of his teachings.

Since the most important deviation of those tranquil people was their economic disorders, manifest injustice, inequity and exploitation, Shu‘ayb emphasized on these subjects more.

At first, he says:

“Fill up the measure, and be not of the cheaters,” “And weigh (things) with a right balance,” “And do not defraud people in their (due) goods, and do not act corruptly in the earth, making mischief.”

Fraud is one of the great sins and unlawful things of economy which brings all corruptions of unlawful food.

Fraud is not seen only in transaction, but there may also be some unjust persons who fraud people in teaching, medical profession, control, engineering and other affairs of life and do not give others their due right as they must do.

In these recent verses, in a few short calculated sentences Shu‘ayb commands these misguided people to follow five commandments.

Some commentators have thought that these commandments are mostly some emphasis on each other, while a sufficient care makes it clear that these five divine commandments, in fact, point to five basic different matters, or in others words, they are four commandments and a general conclusion.

In order that this difference can be clear, this fact must be noted that the people of Shu‘ayb (the inhabitants of ’Aykah and Madyan) were living in a sensitive commercial region which was located on the way of those caravans that traveled from Mecca and Medina to Syria and from Syria to Mecca and Medina as well as other regions.

We know that these caravans are in need of many things in this way and sometimes those people who are in the cities along those roads apply the utmost misuse and buy their goods for the lowest price and sell them for the dearest price. (It should be noted that, at that time, many bargains were done in the form of barters.)

Sometimes, they find many undue faults on the material they are going to buy, while they cammand very much for the thing they are going to sell; and at the time of weighing and measuring their own goods they measure it very exactly and sometimes they fraud, but they weigh and measure others’ goods carelessly and sometimes they take more than the due amount, and since the opposite party is dependent and needy he is helpless to acquiesce to all these matters.

However, the Qur’anic phrase /la tabxasu/ is derived from the word /baxs/ which originally means ‘to give the people’s right unjustly and less than their due’, and sometimes it means deceit, dishonesty and trickery which lead to wasting others’ rights.

Therefore, the abovementioned expressive holy phrase contains such a vast meaning that it envelops any kind of people's defraudation, dishonesty, deceit, cheat and trickery in transaction, as well as any heedlessness unto others’ right.

In regard to the fact that the Arabic word /muxsir/ means the person who exposes someone or something to loss and harm, the Qur’anic sentence: /latakunu minal muxsirin/ (be not of the cheaters), also has a vast meaning which, besides defraudation, encompasses any factor that in bargain causes the loss of the opposite party.

Thus, all abuses, injustices and vices in transaction, and any dishonesty, trickery and struggle that end to loss, whether in quality or quantity, are inside the above commandments.

And since the economic disorders are often the causes of destruction in social system, at the end of these great commandments, as a conclusion, it says:

“And do not defraud people in their (due) goods, and do not act corruptly in the earth, making mischief.”

These commandments not only were helpful for the rich and Unjust society of the time of Shu‘ayb, but also they are useful in any age because they cause the economic justice.