﴿ وَقَالَ ٱلْمَلَأُ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِن قَوْمِهِۦ لَئِنِ ٱتَّبَعْتُمْ شُعَيْبًا إِنَّكُمْ إِذًۭا لَّخَٰسِرُونَ ﴾

“But the great ones among his people, who were bent on denying the truth, said [to his followers]: "Indeed, if you follow Shu'ayb, you will, verily, be the losers!"”

Shu‘ayb’s community was not guilty of denying God, but of misrepresenting Him, i.e. it had attributed to God a religion which was not sent by Him. This has been the position of the communities of all the prophets. The communities of the prophets were no different from those to whom God had earlier revealed His religion. But, by means of self-made changes and additions, they made it into something else. They changed the religion of God into the religion of their desires and started calling it the religion of God. The religious leaders of today, who have the support of the people and are in power, do realize that they cannot argue with the prophets, as they would not succeed. But since they do not want someone to usurp them of their importance, they look for a way to silence them. Allowances can be made for a person so long as the Truth is not clear to him. But after the Truth has been made clear, and if a man still chooses to be arrogant, he loses any right to sympathy. In this world, punishment is given on this basis; and on this same basis, punishment will be decided according to the guilt of the people in the Hereafter.