Tafsir of Hud 11:84

(And to Madyan), meaning the descendants of Madyan ibn Ibrahim, peace be upon him. The genitive noun (the father) has been omitted, or it was made a proper noun by predominance for the tribe. Tribes are frequently named after their ancestors, such as Mudar and Tamim, and perhaps this is more appropriate. It is also permissible that "Madyan" refers to the city built by Madyan and named after him; in this case, an omitted genitive noun is assumed, meaning "And to the people of Madyan."

(Their brother), their kinsman, (Shuaib). What has been said regarding his lineage, peace be upon him, has already passed. The sentence is conjoined to His saying, the Almighty: "And to Thamud, their brother Salih," meaning: And We sent Shuaib to Madyan.

(He said, "O my people, worship Allah; you have no god other than Him." ) This is a command for monotheism presented in an emphatic manner. Since it is the foundation of all matters, he prioritized it over the prohibition against what they were accustomed to—namely, cheating, which is contrary to justice, destructive to the wisdom of mutual interaction, and denies rights to their owners. He said: (And do not decrease the measure and the scale.) It is said: That is, do not defraud people in the measure and the scale, meaning in that which is measured and weighed, mentioning the place (the tool) while intending the state (the action). It is also suggested that the intent is: Do not decrease the volume of the measure from the customary standard, and likewise for the weights. "Kail" (measure) was mentioned in Al-A'raf instead of "Mikyāl" (measuring vessel), so recall and reflect.

(Indeed, I see you in prosperity), meaning: enveloped in vast wealth that suffices you from such actions, or in a blessing from Allah the Almighty whose due is that it be met with something other than what you are doing—namely, that you should show benevolence to people out of gratitude for it. For the pinnacle of gratitude for blessings is kindness and generosity toward the servants of Allah the Almighty. Or: "I see you in prosperity and wealth, so do not cause it to vanish by the evil you commit." In any case, the sentence functions as a justification for the prohibition. He followed it with another reason, namely His saying, the Almighty: (And indeed, I fear for you), if you do not desist from that, (the punishment of an encompassing day.)

It is permissible that this is a justification for both the command and the prohibition together. "Encompassing" (Muhit) is explained as that from which none of them can escape. Al-Zamakhshari explained it as "destructive," drawing from His saying, the Almighty: "And his fruit was encompassed (by ruin)," originating from the encompassing of an enemy. He claimed that describing the "Day" as encompassing is more eloquent than describing the "punishment" as such, because the Day is a time that encompasses events. When it encompasses the person being punished, he is gathered with all that the Day entails, just as one is encompassed by blessings. That is to say, since the Day is a duration encompassing events—whether punishment or otherwise—when it encompasses the person being punished, while he is enveloped in the punishment (because it is an event within it), the person is then gathered with all that the Day contains.

In summary, the encompassing of the Day indicates the encompassing of everything within it—the punishment. As for the encompassing of the punishment itself over a people, it might be that every individual among them is struck by one piece of the punishment; whereas in our context, it indicates that the types of punishment contained within that Day encompass every individual. There is no doubt in the greater eloquence of this, as stated in al-Kashf.

Some researchers, in explaining this eloquence, said: The Day is a time for all events, so the Day of Punishment is the time for all types of punishment occurring within it. If it encompasses the one being punished, then all types of punishment have been gathered for him. This is like the saying: "Verily, chivalry, generosity, and bounty are in a dome pitched over Ibn al-Hashraj." The occurrence of punishment within the Day is like the existence of attributes in the dome, and making the Day encompass the punished one is like the pitching of the dome over the praised one. Just as the latter is a metaphor for the firm establishment of those attributes for him, so too is the former a metaphor for the establishment of the types of punishment for the punished. As for describing the punishment as "encompassing," it contains a metaphor for its "envelopment" of the person being punished; just as the encompassing agent lets nothing of the parts of the encompassed escape, the punishment lets nothing of the parts of the punished escape. This metaphor signifies that the punishment reaches every part of the punished, whereas that metaphor signifies that every type of punishment reaches him. The difference in their levels of eloquence is not hidden.

It is permissible that "encompassing" is an adjective for "punishment," rendered in the genitive case due to proximity. It is also said: It is an adjective for "day" (yaum), flowing in a case other than the one to which it belongs; the estimation being: "the punishment of a day, [the punishment of which is] encompassing." But this is weak, as is evident. Regardless, the intent is the punishment of the Day of Resurrection, or the punishment of total annihilation in this world. Ibn Jarir and Abu al-Shaykh reported from Ibn Abbas, may Allah the Almighty be pleased with them both, that he explained "prosperity" as the affordability of prices, and "the punishment" as their high cost.