An English rendering of the Arabic phrase aṣḥāb al-ayka that occurs in four Meccan sūras (q 15:78; 26:176; 38:13; 50:14). No consensus exists about the identity of these people who suffered the fate of punishment by destruction for their unbelief (see belief and unbelief; punishment stories). There are at least five different theories about the identity of these people who are associated with the prophet Shuʿayb (q.v.). Some exegetes consider them to have been the inhabitants of a place called Madyan (see midian ) or, secondly, a subgroup of a people called Madyan; it is also posited…