Islamic Timeline of RevelationOpen in flowchart →Prophet Shu'ayb (AS)
شعيب
The prophet sent to Madyan (and, in the view of many, to the Companions of the Thicket), who called his people to Tawheed and honest trade. They were destroyed after rejecting him and threatening to expel the believers.
Biography
Shu'ayb was sent to Madyan as 'their brother' (7:85), a people who cheated in weights and measures, sat on roads to intimidate travellers, and spread corruption (7:85-86; 11:84-85). He told them that what remains lawfully with Allah is better for them (11:86) and said 'I only intend reform as much as I am able; my success is only through Allah' (11:88).
His people mocked his prayer for forbidding their ancestral worship and their freedom with wealth (11:87), threatened to stone him (11:91), and threatened to expel him and the believers unless they returned to their religion (7:88). Punishment came as an earthquake (7:91) or blast (11:94). The Quran also mentions the 'Companions of the Thicket' (ashab al-aykah) to whom Shu'ayb was sent, destroyed by 'the punishment of the day of the shadow' (26:176-189); scholars differ on whether they are the same as Madyan or a second people.
Madyan is traditionally located in north-west Arabia near the Gulf of Aqaba. Genealogists trace the people of Madyan to Madyan, a son of Ibrahim; this is tradition.
Many Muslims identify the old man of Madyan whose daughter Musa married (28:23-28) with Shu'ayb; many classical scholars (as discussed by Ibn Kathir) doubted this on chronological grounds. The Quran does not name that man, so the link is marked as disputed.
Sources & explanation
۞ Qur'an
7:85 7:86 7:87 7:88 7:89 7:90 7:91 7:92 7:93 11:84 11:85 11:86 11:87 11:88 11:91 11:94 11:95 26:176 26:177 26:181 26:182 26:183 26:189 29:36 29:37 15:78 15:79
Links open quran.com.
📜 Hadith verified on sunnah.com
No verified hadith attached yet. Only references checked against sunnah.com are listed.
💬 Explanation Unverified
Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's perspective
Methodological note (not a direct quote): Engineer Muhammad Ali Mirza's widely known approach is to build narratives primarily on the Quran and Sahih Hadith, to set aside Israiliyat (Judeo-Christian lore absorbed into later tafsir) and weak or fabricated narrations, and to avoid sectarian framing. Applied to this node: The Quran is followed; the identification of Musa's father-in-law with Shu'ayb is presented as disputed, since the Quran does not name him.
Further references
- Quran 7:85-93
- Quran 11:84-95
- Quran 26:176-191
- Quran 28:23-28 (father-in-law unnamed)
- Ibn Kathir, Qasas al-Anbiya (discussion of identity)
Connections
Comes from
- Prophet Ibrahim (Khalilullah) (AS) ancestor of — Madyan traced to a son of Ibrahim per genealogists
Linked with
- Prophet Musa (Kalimullah) (AS) prophetic succession — Musa's father-in-law in Madyan identified with Shu'ayb by some; the Quran does not name him