قَالُوا۟ يَٰشُعَيْبُ أَصَلَوٰتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَن نَّتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُنَآ أَوْ أَن نَّفْعَلَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِنَا مَا نَشَٰٓؤُا۟
"They said: 'Shuʿayb! Does your prayer command you that we should abandon what our fathers served, or that we should give up doing as we please with our own property? You are indeed the forbearing, the right-minded one!'"
| The first | mā yaʿbudu ābāʾunā — the religion of the forefathers |
|---|---|
| The second | an nafʿala fī amwālinā mā nashāʾ — doing as one pleases with property |
I record this as my own reading, and its ground is the sentence itself: those who object have noticed that a link is being made between the prayer and the ordering of property, and they object to it. The verse, that is, shows the side making that link to be not the messenger but his opponents — and the objection itself certifies that the link exists.
amwālinā — "our property". And the eighty-fifth verse had named the same subject as al-nāsa ashyāʾahum — "people's things". Two possessive pronouns stand facing one another.
إِنَّكَ لَأَنتَ ٱلْحَلِيمُ ٱلرَّشِيدُ — two attributes of praise, in a context of mockery. And the word ḥalīm was used in this sūra of Abraham as well (11/75: inna Ibrāhīma la-ḥalīmun awwāhun munīb, cited also at al-Tawba 9/114). The same word occurs twelve verses apart in two places, one in earnest and one in derision.
قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ أَرَءَيْتُمْ إِن كُنتُ عَلَىٰ بَيِّنَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّى وَرَزَقَنِى مِنْهُ رِزْقًا حَسَنًا (88)
The first move of the answer is worth recording: the messenger names his own means of living — wa razaqanī minhu rizqan ḥasanā. What is said, that is, is "I have no need of my own in making this call".
وَمَآ أُرِيدُ أَنْ أُخَالِفَكُمْ إِلَىٰ مَآ أَنْهَىٰكُمْ عَنْهُ — "I do not wish to do myself what I forbid you."
The construction needs care: ukhālifakum ilā — "to go against you towards a thing". That is, "to forbid you a thing and then run to it myself behind your backs". The lexicographers record that the verb khilāf takes this sense with ilā.
إِنْ أُرِيدُ إِلَّا ٱلْإِصْلَٰحَ مَا ٱسْتَطَعْتُ — iṣlāḥ is the exact opposite of the ifsād forbidden to the people at 85 (ص-ل-ح / ف-س-د). And the qualification mā'staṭaʿt is added: "as far as I am able".
I record this as an observation: the messenger undertakes not the outcome but the effort — and the sentence ends with wa mā tawfīqī illā bi'llāh, that is, the outcome of the effort is not his either.