﴿ قَالُوا۟ يَٰشُعَيْبُ مَا نَفْقَهُ كَثِيرًۭا مِّمَّا تَقُولُ وَإِنَّا لَنَرَىٰكَ فِينَا ضَعِيفًۭا ۖ وَلَوْلَا رَهْطُكَ لَرَجَمْنَٰكَ ۖ وَمَآ أَنتَ عَلَيْنَا بِعَزِيزٍۢ ﴾

“[But his people] said: "O Shu'ayb! We cannot grasp the purport of much of what thou sayest; on the other hand, behold, we do see clearly how- weak thou art in our midst:" and were it not for thy family, we would have most certainly stoned thee to death, considering that thou hast no power over us!"”

They said: 'O Shuʿayb, we do not understand: they did not understand because of the existence of rust on their hearts as a result of the sins which they earned. The reason why it was the fear of his clan and not the fear of God, exalted be He, that prevented them from stoning him was because they had veiled themselves with creation from the Truth, which is caused by a lack of understanding, similar to where He says: You indeed arouse greater awe in their hearts than God. That is because they are a people who do not understand [Q. 59:13].