Quran Universe
26:179

فَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَأَطِيعُونِ

Faittaqoo Allaha waateeAAooni

So fear Allah and obey me.

Word by word
  1. فَٱتَّقُواْSo fear
  2. ٱللَّهَAllah
  3. وَأَطِيعُونِand obey me
Ash-Shu'ara · 26:179Makkah

Fear Allah and obey me, said the fifth messenger.

The same call reaches Madyan

Shu'ayb's call
taqwa of Allah
and
obey meeven in your trading
Where taqwa lives
in worship only
in the marketplacewhere they weighed and measured

Shu'ayb gives the same call as Nuh, Hud, Salih and Lut: have taqwa of Allah, and obey me. For Madyan, obeying him would mean fair weights and measures, right where they made their living.

Your shop, your freelance invoices, your online store. That is where your taqwa will be tested most this week. Mindfulness of Allah goes to work with you.

I am mindful of Allah when I pray.

Mindfulness of Allah is just as real when I quote a price.

Try this

Before your next work task today, say bismillah and remember Allah is watching the work.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir (shared passage from 26:176)

The companions of Al-Aykah denied the Messengers (176)When Shu'ayb said to them: "Will you not have Taqwa? (177)"I am a trustworthy Messenger to you. (178)"So, have Taqwa of Allah, and obey me. (179)"No reward do I ask of you for it; my reward is only from the Lord of Al-'Alamin. (180)

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.

أَصْحَابُ الْأَيْكَةِ

(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.