69. The territory of Madyan (Midian) lay to the north-west of Hijaz and south
of Palestine on the coast of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, and part of
the territory stretched to the northern border of the Sinai Peninsula. The Midianites
and their towns were situated at the crossroads of the trade routes from Yemen
through Makka and Yanbu' to Syria along the Red Sea coast, and from Iraq to
Egypt. Midian was, therefore, quite well known to the Arabs. In fact it persisted
in their memory long after its destruction for the Arab trade caravans en route
to Syria and Egypt passed through territories which were full of the ruins of
their monuments.
Another point worth noting about the people of Midian is that they were reckoned
to be descendants of Midyan, a son of the Prophet Abraharn born of his third
wife, Qatura. According to a custom of the time, persons who attached themselves
to a notable family were gradually counted as members of that family, as the
descendants of that family's ancestor. It is for this reason that a large majority
of Arabs were called the descendants of Ismai'l. Likewise those who embraced
faith at the hands of Ya'qab's sons bore the general name 'the People of Israel'.
Now, since the inhabitants of Midian owed allegiance to Midyan, son of Abraham,
they were referred to as the descendants of Midyan and their territory was called
Midian.
In view of this it should not be thought that the Prophet Shu'ayb invited them,
for the first time, to follow Divine Guidance. At the time of the advent of
Shu'ayb their state was no different from that of the Israelites at the time
of the advent of Moses. They too were originally a Muslim people who had subsequently
moved far away from Islam. For six to seven centuries they lived amongst a people
who were steeped in polytheism and moral corruption, and this led to their contamination
with polytheism and moral corruption. Despite their deviation and corruption,
however, they claimed to be the followers of the true faith, and were proud
of their religious identification.
70. This shows that the people of Midian suffered from two major ailments - polytheism and dishonesty in business. Shu'ayb devoted his efforts to purging them of those evils.
71. The import of this statement has been explained earlier in (notes 44-5) above. In his exhortations to his people, Shu'ayb emphasized that they should not allow the order of life, established by the previous Prophets on the foundations of true faith and sound morals, to be corrupted by false beliefs and moral depravity.
72. This clearly shows that the people concerned claimed to be believers, as we have already pointed out. In fact, they were originally Muslims who had drifted away from Islam, who had become enmeshed in a range of evils. They not only professed to be believers, but took great pride in being so. See( n. 69) above - Ed. Shu'ayb made this fact the starting-point of his preaching. He told them that if they indeed were believers they should live up to that fact; they should consider their salvation to lie in practising goodness and virtue, honesty and integrity; and they should distinguish between good and evil on the basis of the standards followed by righteous people rather than of those who believed neither in God nor in the Hereafter.