RECORD OF THE LORD SHOA’IB [JETHRO], THE TEACHER OF
THE PROPHETS.*

Theologians differ whether Shoa’ib was a descendant of Ebrahim or of Sâlah. Some assert that his mother was of the progeny of Lôt the prophet, and that her name was Mika. Shoa’ib was a great and eloquent prophet; according to some opinions he had been sent to guide and to direct the inhabitants of a country called Madian, and according to others he was sent to two nations, namely, to Madian and to the people of Aika; others, again, assert that these two mean one and the same people, who were idolaters, and considered highway robbery and the making of false coins allowable occupations. Shoa’ib admonished those people not to commit illicit acts, and invited them to follow the religion of Ebrahim. A part of them, who were endowed with discernment and adorned by knowledge, followed his advice and selected the right religion, but another portion of them, who were predestined to eternal misery, per­severed in their errors and desisted not from their former deeds and occupations. When the rumour of his mission spread, the inhabitants of Syria became desirous to see him, and flocked from all directions around his lordship. His adversaries, however, who perceived this, sat on the roads and dissuaded the people from associating with or following him. Shoa’ib then reproached his enemies as follows: ‘O people, since ye have, in your errors, gone astray in the valley of perdition, so that the advice of preachers and admonitions of prophets make no impression upon you, why do you hinder others? How are you heaping error upon errors, and why are you not warned by the events of past ages, and by [the chastisements that overtook] former nations? Why do not you consider the fate of the people of Nûh, of Hûd, and of Lôt? Fear the vengeance of God, listen attentively to His commands, lest He make you taste the same [bitter] draught which ancient nations have swallowed, and ye lose your own souls in the regions of hell!’ They stretched forth the tongue of loquacity, and said to Shoa’ib: ‘As we are rich and power­ful in all kinds of property, why wouldst thou injure us by meddling with thy commands [to interfere] in the increase or diminution thereof; and as idolatry is current among us, how could we allow our relatives and clansmen to obey thee? Indeed, those who follow thee are attacked by the disease of insanity; and if, after they recover from their fits, they do not return to the religion of their forefathers and ancestors, we shall expel them with their children from this country. We manifest this leniency towards thee on account of thy consanguinity and the debility of thy body, else we would punish thy corrupt infatuation in the severest manner.’ Shoa’ib replied: ‘How could those whom the Lord of Magnificence—w. n. b. pr.—has, in the perfection of His mercy and grace, rescued from the abyss of infidelity, and has safely landed in the harbour of faith, return from the true religion to the ways of vanity? And how could they, after professing monotheism, again relapse into the folly of infidelity? “We shall surely imagine a lie against Allah, if we return unto your religion, after Allah hath delivered us from the same.”* If you consider my relationship to you, how is it that you thrust the claim of the Lord of lords out of your sight? Now the time is near at hand when the Mighty Avenger and Supreme Ruler will, in the height of His wrath, send a great calamity upon you, when it will appear plainly who is to be saved and who is to perish.’ When the time of their error, infidelity and folly had become protracted, they remembered the [threatened] punishment [only] with ridicule and sarcasm. Then Shoa’ib implored God, saying: ‘O Lord, do Thou judge between us and our nation with truth, for Thou art the best judge,’* expecting a reply and the chastisement of that nation. The divine response arrived, followed by ardent heat during seven days and nights, increasing gradually to such an extent that those perverse people could no longer bear it in their houses, but issued from them, and driving their families and cattle before them, hastened towards the trees outside the city.

It is related, according to Ebn A’bbâs, that the Almighty sent the [burning wind] Simûm from hell to destroy those rebels, whose dwellings it warmed like hot baths, and whose fountains it caused to boil. It is said that when they had reached the open country the flesh had peeled off their feet from the heat of the soil. On that occasion a cloud made its appearance, under the shadow of which these people took refuge, but as soon as they were all assembled, fire rained from the cloud, and reduced the poor as well as the nobles of that nation to ashes. A company of infirm persons, who had remained in the city, were conveyed into the flames of the infernal regions, when they heard the shout of Jebrâil, and the world became purified from the mire of their idolatry, as well as from the filth of their wickedness. Shoa’ib, however, and his adherents came forth in safety from the calamity, which overtook those wicked persons. ‘Wherefore, when our decree came [to be executed], we delivered Shoa’ib, and those who believed with him, through our mercy.’*

It is related that the number of those who followed Shoa’ib amounted to one thousand and seventy individuals. After this unbelieving nation had perished, the divine mandate reached Shoa’ib to remain in Madian, and to occupy himself, in concert with those who believed, in con­verting the inhabitants of that country, which his lordship did, until Mûsa, the son of E’mrân—u. w. b., etc.—arrived,* from whom he was separated after a union of seven years and four months, and hastened to the mansions of the next world. Some allege that after separating from Mûsa, he went to the country of Mekkah, and that he dwelt there until he had performed the journey through this world and was received into the next.