Quran Universe
15:78

وَإِن كَانَ أَصۡحَٰبُ ٱلۡأَيۡكَةِ لَظَٰلِمِينَ

Wain kana ashabu alaykati lathalimeena

And the companions of the thicket were [also] wrongdoers.

Word by word
  1. وَإِنAnd were
  2. كَانَAnd were
  3. أَصۡحَٰبُ(the) companions
  4. ٱلۡأَيۡكَةِ(of) the wood
  5. لَظَٰلِمِينَsurely wrongdoers
Al-Hijr · 15:78Makkah

The people of the thick trees also did wrong.

Shuayb's people, the dwellers of Al-Aykah

Their wrongs
Al-Aykahpeople of Shuayb
did
shirkpartners with Allah
banditryrobbing travelers
cheatingin weights and measures
Where wrong lives
only in beliefjust a faith issue
also in the marketscales, roads, deals

Ibn Kathir says the dwellers of Al-Aykah, meaning intertwined trees, were the people of Shuayb. Their evildoing included shirk, banditry and cheating in weights and measures. They lived near Lut's people, at a later time.

You round the invoice up a little. You sell the phone without mentioning the cracked camera. You pad your hours. Small cheats in the scale. This verse puts dishonest trade beside shirk.

Business is business; a little rounding up hurts no one.

Cheating in a deal is a real wrong that Allah lists alongside the biggest ones.

Try this

Check one transaction, invoice or sale you have open and make it completely honest.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

And the Dwellers of Al-Aykah, were also wrongdoers (78)So, We took vengeance on them. They are both on an open route, plain to see (79)

The Destruction of the Dwellers of Al-Aykah, the People of Shu'ayb

The Dwellers of Al-Aykah, were the people of Shu'ayb. Ad-Dahhak, Qatadah and others said that Al-Aykah refers to intertwined trees. Their evildoing included associating partners with Allah (Shirk), banditry and cheating in weights and measures. Allah punished them with the Sayhah (the awful cry or torment), the earthquake, and the torment of the Day of Shadow. They lived near the people of Lut, but at a later time, and the people of Lut were known to them, which is why Allah says,

وَإِنَّهُمَا لَبِإِمَامٍ مُّبِينٍ

(They are both on an open route, plain to see.) Ibn 'Abbas, Mujahid, Ad-Dahhak and others said, "a visible route." This is why, when Shu'ayb warned his people, he said to them,

وَمَا قَوْمُ لُوطٍ مِّنكُم بِبَعِيدٍ

(And the people of Lut are not far off from you!)[11:89]