Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

184. “And fear Him Who created you and the former generations.”

185. “They said: ‘Verily you are only of those bewitched’.”

186. “And you are naught but a mortal like us; and we think that you are of the liars.”

Piety and Faith hinder corruptions in economy. He Who created you will sustain you, too, and you need not to be worried about your sustenance.

The corrupt customs and traditions of ancestors must not be relied on, because we all are Allah’s creatures and we must obey Him.

So, in his last command here, Shu‘ayb invites them again to piety, and says:

“And fear Him Who created you and the former generations.”

You are not the only nation who have come to live on the earth; before you there were your fathers and other groups of people who came into being and passed away. Do not forget both the events of theirs in the past and yours in future.

The Arabic word /jibillah/ is derived from /jabal/ which means ‘mountain’. It is applied for a large crowd of people which, from the point of hugeness, is like a mountain. Some commentators have said that the number of them was about ten thousand.

Also, the man’s nature is called /jibillah/, because it is unchangeable and it is like mountain which cannot be moved from one place to another.

The abovementioned change may also refer to this fact that what he said about the abundance of transgression and giving the people’s rights to them and observing justice has been inside the innate of man from the beginning and he has come to revive their pure nature.

But, unfortunately the words of this sympathetic prophet did not affect positively in them and they answered his logical statements with the same bitter and ugly label that the sinners and tyrants had ever used, as the Qur’an says:

“They said: ‘Verily you are only of those bewitched’.”

They told him that he did not say any logical word in his statements at all, and that he thought he could restrain them from their freedom in their deeds upon their properties.

Moreover, you are also a mortal like us, then how do you expect us to follow you? And what superiority do you have over us?

As the verse explains, they said:

“And you are naught but a mortal like us...”

The only consideration we have about you is that you are a lying person.

The verse continues saying:

“...and we think that you are of the liars.”