26:176 Ash-Shu'araa (The Poets)

كَذَّبَ أَصْحَابُ الأَيْكَةِ الْمُرْسَلِينَ . أصحاب الأيكة: أي: البساتين الملتفة أشجارها وهم أصحاب مدين, فكذبوا نبيهم شعيبا, الذي جاء بما جاء به المرسلون.

هؤلاء- يعني أصحاب الأيكة - هم أهل مدين على الصحيح وكان نبي الله شعيب من أنفسهم وإنما لم يقل ههنا أخوهم شعيب لأنهم نسبوا إلى عبادة الأيكة وهي شجره وقيل شجر ملتف كالغيضة كانوا يعبدونها فلهذا لما قال: كذب أصحاب الأيكة المرسلين لم يقل: إذ قال لهم أخوهم شعيب.

Shu`ayb and His Preaching to the Dwellers of Al-Aykah

The companions of Al-Aykah were the people of Madyan, according to the most correct view. The Prophet of Allah Shu`ayb was one of them, but it does not say here, their brother Shu`ayb, because they called themselves by a name denoting their deification of Al-Aykah, which was a tree which they used to worship; it was said that it was a group of trees which were tangled, like trees in a thicket. For this reason, when Allah said that the companions of Al-Aykah denied the Messengers, He did not say, "When their brother Shu`ayb said to them." Rather, He said:

إِذْ قَالَ لَهُمْ شُعَيْبٌ

(When Shu`ayb said to them) He is not described as belonging to them because of the meaning that was inherent in the name given to them even though he was their brother by blood. Some people did not notice this point, so they thought that the dwellers of Al-Aykah were different from the people of Madyan, and claimed that Shu`ayb was sent to two nations; some said that he was sent to three.

أَصْحَـبُ لْـَيْكَةِ

(The companions of Al-Aykah) were the people of Shu`ayb. This was the view of Ishaq bin Bishr. Someone besides Juwaybir said, "The dwellers of Al-Aykah and the people of Madyan are one and the same." And Allah knows best. Although there is another opinion that they were different nations with two identities, the correct view is that they were one nation, but they are described differently in different places. Shu`ayb preached to them and commanded them to be fair in their weights and measures, the same as is mentioned in the story of Madyan, which also indicates that they were the same nation.

أَوْفُواْ الْكَيْلَ وَلاَ تَكُونُواْ مِنَ الْمُخْسِرِينَ - وَزِنُواْ بِالْقِسْطَاسِ الْمُسْتَقِيمِ

وَلاَ تَبْخَسُواْ النَّاسَ أَشْيَآءهُمْ وَلاَ تَعْثَوْاْ فِى الاْرْضِ مُفْسِدِينَ-

The dwellers in the wood a variant reading for ashābu’l-aykati has ashābu laykata a thicket of trees near Midian denied the messengers

وَأَمْطَرْ‌نَا عَلَيْهِم مَّطَرً‌ا ۖ فَسَاءَ مَطَرُ‌ الْمُنذَرِ‌ينَ

and subjected them to a terrible rain. So evil was the rain of those who were warned. - 26:173

This verse has confirmed that if a man commits sodomy, he may be punished with throwing a wall on him or by throwing him down from a high place, as suggested by Hanafi scholars, because the people of Lut (علیہ السلام) were destroyed in a similar manner. Their township was lifted and thrown on the ground. (Shami Kitab Al-Hudud)