The Quran

Preface

قالوا يا شُعَيبُ أَصَلاتُكَ تَأمُرُكَ أَن نَترُكَ ما يَعبُدُ آباؤُنا أَو أَن نَفعَلَ في أَموالِنا ما نَشاءُ ۖ إِنَّكَ لَأَنتَ الحَليمُ الرَّشيدُ

Yusuf Ali

They said: “O Shu'aib! Does thy (religion of) prayer command thee that we leave off the worship which our fathers practised, or that we leave off doing what we like with our property?¹ truly, thou art the one that forbeareth with faults and is rightminded!”²

It is the say of selfish and material minded people (1) to scoff at spiritual things like prayer and worship and (2) to hug their own property rights as if there were not other rights even greater than those of property!
They grow sarcastic against Shu'ayb. In effect they say: “You are a fine man!
You teach us that we must be kind and forbearing with other people’s faults, and now get at what you call our sins! You think you are the only right-minded man!”