93 Preface فَتَوَلّىٰ عَنهُم وَقالَ يا قَومِ لَقَد أَبلَغتُكُم رِسالاتِ رَبّي وَنَصَحتُ لَكُم ۖ فَكَيفَ آسىٰ عَلىٰ قَومٍ كافِرينَYusuf AliSo Shu'aib left them, saying: “O my people! I did indeed convey to you the messages for which I was sent by my Lord: I gave you good counsel, but how shall I lament over a people who refuse to believe!”1Can we get any idea of the chronological place of the destruction of the Midianites? In n. 1053 (7:85) we have discussed the geographical aspects. The following considerations will help us in getting some idea of their period: (1) The stories of Noah, Hud, Ṣālih, Lut, and Shu'ayb seem to be in chronological order. Therefore Shu'ayb came after Abraham, whose nephew Lut was; (2) If Shu'ayb was in the fourth generation from Abraham, (see 11:89, n. 1590), it would be impossible for him to have been a contemporary of Moses, who came many centuries later - this difficulty is recognised by Ibn Kathir and other classical commentators; (3) The identification of Shu'ayb with Jethro the father-in-law of Moses is without warrant; see n. 1054 (7:85); (4) Shu'ayb must have been before Moses; see 7:103; (5) The Midianites who were destroyed by Moses and by Gideon after him (n. 1053) were local remnants, as we may speak of the Jews at the present day; but their existence as a nation in their original homelands seems to have ended before Moses: “they became as if they had never been in the homes where they had flourished” (7:92); (6) Josephus, Eusebhis, and Ptolemy mention a town of Madyan, but it was not of any importance (n. 1053); (7) After the first centuries of the Christian era, Madyan as a town appears as an unimportant place resting on its past.