Surah Al-A'raf, Ayah 87

Prophet Shu`ayb forbade his people from setting up blockades on the roads, saying,

وَلاَ تَقْعُدُواْ بِكُلِّ صِرَطٍ تُوعِدُونَ

("And sit not on every road, threatening,") threatening people with death if they do not give up their money, as they were bandits, according to As-Suddi. Ibn `Abbas, Mujahid and several others commented:

وَلاَ تَقْعُدُواْ بِكُلِّ صِرَطٍ تُوعِدُونَ

("And sit not on every road, threatening.") the believers who come to Shu`ayb to follow him." The first meaning is better, because Prophet Shu`ayb first said to them,

بِكُلِّ صِرَطٍ

("on every road...") He then mentioned the second meaning,

وَتَصُدُّونَ عَن سَبِيلِ اللَّهِ مَنْ ءَامَنَ بِهِ وَتَبْغُونَهَا عِوَجًا

In the last verse (87), an answer has been given to scruples of these people about the division in their ranks after some of them believed in the call of Sayyidna Shu'aib (علیہ السلام) while others kept rejecting him. But, there was no difference between them outwardly. Both groups were living comfortably. If being a disbeliever or denier would have been a crime, the criminal would have been punished. To answer that doubt, it was said: فَاصْبِرُ‌وا حَتَّىٰ يَحْكُمَ اللَّـهُ بَيْنَنَا Is that is, do not make haste. Allah Ta` ala is Forbearing and Merciful. He gives respite to wrongdoers. It is only when they become absolutely wicked and highhanded that the decree of Allah comes into action. The state in which they were was similar. If they remained sticking to their denial, the time was not far when the decisive punishment will overtake the deniers.

One of the sons of Abraham was Madyan who was born of his third wife, Quatura. The people of Midian (or Madyan), his decendants, settled on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. These people believed in God and professed to be of Abraham’s religion. But, five hundred years after the time of Abraham, they fell into wrong ways. They were a trading community; so their evil found expression in their dealings. They did not maintain the principles of honesty in weights, measures and transactions. Injustice in dealing with others is against the balanced system (islah) enforced by God. God has caused the system of this world to work on the basis of perfect justice. Here, there is nothing like taking more from others and giving less in return. Here everything functions on the principles of justice to the point of mathematical exactness. If this does not happen, then it would amount to creating a disturbance in the well-balanced world of God.