He said, "O my people, have you considered: if I am upon (11:88)

Almuntakhab Fi Tafsir Alquran Alkarim

There did Shuaib say to them: My people, pause here and think but this: what if Allah has enlightened my thoughts and my innermost being and imparted to me knowledge, wisdom and spiritual light and made His grace abound in me! I want you to realize, he added, that I do not move you to this divine course of action to advantage myself behind your backs of your dishonest system of trading and its ill-gotten gains. My aim is only reform I wish to brew the best I can until the pious principle governs your thoughts and you abandon wrong - doing. My successful attainment of the desired end rests in the hands of Allah; in Him I trust and to Him I lift my inward sight

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(11:88) Shu'ayb said: 'My people! What do you think? If I stand on clear evidence from my Lord, and He has also provided me a handsome provision from Himself *98 -(should I be ungrateful to Him and share your error and iniquity?) Nor do I desire to act contrary to what I admonish you. *99 I desire nothing but to set things right as far as I can. My succour is only with Allah. In Him have I put my trust, and to Him do I always turn.

He said, "O my people, have you considered: if I am upon meaning

*98). 'Provision' in this context has two connotations. It might signify, in the first place, the provision of knowledge of the truth communicated by God to someone. Secondly, it might also signify, as it commonly does, the provision of the means bestowed by God on His creatures in order that they may be able to live.
Were we to understand this word in the first sense, the verse substantially repeats the same point that has been expressed earlier in this surah through the Prophets Muhammad, Noah and Salih (peace be on them). Common to their statements is their affirmation that they found the signs of the truth in their own beings and in the universe around them. Those signs were corroborated by direct knowledge of the truth intimated to them by God. (See verses 17,28 and 63 above - Ed.) Hence it was not possible for them to join their people in their errors of belief and in their acts of wickedness.
However, if the word is taken in the latter sense, it amounts to a response to the sarcastic remark hurled at Shu'ayb: 'Do you fancy that you, and only you, are forbearing and right-directed?' (See verse 87 above.) It is noteworthy that the answer to this most bitter and caustic query is couched in exceedingly moderate and dispassionate words. The answer amounts to telling his opponents that if his Lord had granted Shu'ayb knowledge of reality and also a livelihood that is pure and lawful, how could their sarcastic remarks change the fact that Shu'ayb had received God's favours? Also, in view of the favours which God had lavished upon Shu'ayb, how could it be appropriate for him to act ungratefully towards God by legitimizing their erroneous beliefs and acts of corruption?
*99). Shu'ayb pointed out to his detractors that they could measure his integrity by only one thing: whether he practised what he preached. Had he forbidden others from visiting false deities, and then had become the custodian of some such shrine, people would have been justified in reproaching him for inconsistency and self-contradiction. They could have rightly criticized him for preaching something and practising its opposite. Had he asked them to abstain from unlawful earnings and had himself resorted to dishonest practices they would have been perfectly justified in accusing him of talking of honesty merely to build up a good image of himself and then exploiting it for his personal ends.
It was clear, however, that Shu'ayb could be accused of nothing like that. It was crystal clear that he had stayed well away from all those vices which he asked others to abstain from. He had no stains on him of which he wanted others to remain free. Shu'ayb also practised all those acts of goodness to which he invited others. All this was sufficient to establish that Shu'ayb was fully sincere about his mission.
 

He said, "O my people, have you considered: if I am upon meaning in Urdu

شعیبؑ نے کہا "بھائیو، تم خود ہی سوچو کہ اگر میں اپنے رب کی طرف سے ایک کھلی شہادت پر تھا اور پھر اس نے اپنے ہاں سے مجھ کو اچھا رزق بھی عطا کیا (تو اس کے بعد میں تمہاری گمراہیوں اور حرام خوریوں میں تمہارا شریک حال کیسے ہوسکتا ہوں؟) اور میں ہرگز یہ نہیں چاہتا کہ جن باتوں سے میں تم کو روکتا ہوں ان کا خود ارتکاب کروں میں تو اصلاح کرنا چاہتا ہوں جہاں تک بھی میرا بس چلے اور یہ جو کچھ میں کرنا چاہتا ہوں اس کا سارا انحصار اللہ کی توفیق پر ہے، اُسی پر میں نے بھروسہ کیا اور ہر معاملہ میں اسی کی طرف میں رجوع کرتا ہوں