﴿ قَالُوا۟ يَٰشُعَيْبُ أَصَلَوٰتُكَ تَأْمُرُكَ أَن نَّتْرُكَ مَا يَعْبُدُ ءَابَآؤُنَآ أَوْ أَن نَّفْعَلَ فِىٓ أَمْوَٰلِنَا مَا نَشَٰٓؤُا۟ ۖ إِنَّكَ لَأَنتَ ٱلْحَلِيمُ ٱلرَّشِيدُ ﴾

“Said they: "O Shu'ayb! Does thy [habit of] praying compel thee to demand of us that we give up all that our forefathers were wont to worship, or that we refrain from doing whatever we please with our possessions? Behold, [thou wouldst have us believe that] thou art indeed the only clement, the only right-minded man!"”

Sometimes it happens that people use the word ‘salat’ (prayer) when they actually mean ‘religion.’ Here they had used the word salat because salat is the most prominent and clear sign of religion. (Safwat at-Tafasir). Shu‘ayb’s community claimed to be religious. They used to say their prayers also. But they had associated shirk (ascribing partners to God) with their religion and prayers, and in its name had allowed foul play in their transactions. Shu‘ayb urged them to be true worshippers of God and to adhere to fair play in their dealings and said that if there is polytheism along with religion and there is foul play in transactions along with prayers, then such religion and such prayer have no value in the eyes of God. Such talk was likely to expose the false pretensions of the community about their piety. Their stand—that they were religious in spite of their wrongdoing—was adversely affected by this. Being already acclaimed as ‘worshippers’, they became irritated and said, ‘Are you the only worshipper of God? Were the holy great ones whose ways we have adopted ignorant? Doesn’t anybody else except you know what prayer is and what its requirements are? Perhaps you think that you are the only wise and righteous person in the whole world!’ In the eyes of Shu‘ayb’s community, only those who had become great by virtue of long-standing tradition, or who occupied seats of high status appeared to be truly great. That is why they had the courage to taunt Shu‘ayb in this manner.