The she-camel of Salih, a sign for Thamud / The hamstringing of the she-camel of Salih

The she-camel of Salih, a sign for Thamud

The object now is the mention of their story, of what came of them, of how Allah saved His prophet Salih (peace be upon him) and those who believed in him, and how He cut off the existence of the people who wronged, through their disbelief and tyranny and their opposition to their messenger. We have mentioned that they were Arabs, coming after 'Ad, and that they took no lesson from what came of them. That is why their prophet said to them: « worship Allah: you have no deity other than Him. A clear proof has come to you from your Lord: this is the she-camel of Allah, a sign for you.

So leave her to eat in Allah's earth and touch her not with harm, lest a painful punishment seize you. And remember when He made you successors after 'Ad and settled you in the earth: you take palaces in its plains and hew the mountains into houses. So remember the favors of Allah and do not corrupt the earth »: He made you successors after them so that you might take lesson from what came of them and act contrary to their deeds; He permitted you this earth: you build palaces in its plains and hew houses from the mountains with art, that is, skilled in their making and perfection. So meet Allah's favor with gratitude, righteous work and the worship of Him alone without partner; and beware of disobeying Him and turning from His obedience, for the end of that is dire.

That is why he exhorted them: « Will you be left secure in what is here, among gardens and springs, and fields and palms whose spathes are fine? », that is, abundant, plentiful, beautiful, radiant, ripe; « you hew houses from the mountains, skillfully. So fear Allah and obey me, and do not obey the command of the wasteful, who corrupt the earth and do not reform it. »

He said to them also: « O my people, worship Allah: you have no deity other than Him. It is He who produced you from the earth and settled you in it », that is: He created you and brought you forth from the earth, and made you its dwellers, giving it to you with what it contains of crops and fruits. He is the Creator, the Provider; so He alone deserves worship, to the exclusion of all else. « So ask forgiveness of Him, then turn to Him »: abandon what you are in and turn to His worship; He will accept from you and pardon you.

« My Lord is near, responsive. » They said: « O Salih, you were among us one in whom hope was placed before this », that is: we hoped that your intellect would be complete before this speech, your call upon us to worship Allah alone and abandon what we worshipped of equals, and the turning from the religion of fathers and forefathers. That is why they said: « Do you forbid us to worship what our fathers worshipped? We are indeed in grave doubt about that to which you call us.

» He said: « O my people, consider: if I am upon a clear proof from my Lord, and He has given me mercy from Himself, who would help me against Allah if I disobeyed Him? You would add nothing to me but loss. » This was a gentle subtlety from him in expression, a softness of manner, and a fine approach in calling them to good: what do you think, if the matter is as I say to you, and I call you to it? What would your excuse be before Allah, and what would deliver you before Him, while you ask me to abandon my call upon you to His obedience?

That is impossible for me, for it is an obligation upon me: were I to abandon it, none of you, nor anyone else, could shelter me from Him or help me. I shall therefore never cease calling you to Allah alone, without partner, until Allah judges between me and you. They said to him also: « you are only of the bewitched », that is: of the bewitched; they mean a bewitched man who knows not what he says in calling upon us to worship Allah alone and cast down all else of equals. This is the view the majority chose: the bewitched means the bewitched.

It is said: of those who have sihr, which is the lung; as if they were saying: you are only a human afflicted with sihr. The first is more apparent, given their word after it: « you are only a human like us. » Their word: « so bring a sign, if you are of the truthful »: they asked him to bring them a supernatural matter proving the truth of what he brought them. He said: « this is a she-camel: she has her drink, and you have your drink, on a day appointed.

Touch her not with harm, lest the punishment of a great day seize you. » And he said: « a clear proof has come to you from your Lord: this is the she-camel of Allah, a sign for you. So leave her to eat in Allah's earth and touch her not with harm, lest a painful punishment seize you. » And the Most High said: « We gave Thamud the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged her.

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The exegetes mentioned that Thamud gathered one day in their assembly, and the messenger of Allah Salih came to them, calling them to Allah, reminding them, warning them, exhorting them and commanding them. They said to him: if you bring out for us from this rock, and they pointed to a rock there, a she-camel of such and such description; they enumerated her attributes, described her and insisted: that she be heavy with a long gestation, with such and such qualities. The prophet Salih (peace be upon him) said to them: consider: if I answer you in what you ask, in the manner you seek, will you believe in what I have come to you with, and affirm me in that for which I was sent? They said: yes.

He then took their pledges and covenants on that, then went to his place of prayer, prayed to Allah what was decreed for him, and invoked his Lord to answer them in what they asked. Allah commanded that rock to split open with a great she-camel, heavy with a long gestation, in the required manner and the described form. When they beheld her thus, they saw a mighty matter, an awesome sight, a dazzling power, a decisive proof and a luminous demonstration: many of them believed, but most of them persisted in their disbelief, error and obstinacy. That is why He said: « but they wronged her », that is: they denied by her and did not follow the truth because of her; this concerns most of them.

The chief of those who believed was Junda' ibn Amr ibn Mikhlat ibn Lubayd ibn Jawwas, who was among their notables, the remnant of the nobles upon Islam. They were turned from it by Du'ab ibn Umar ibn Lubayd, by al-Hubab, the master of their idols, and by Rabab ibn Sam'ar ibn Jahlas. Junda' called his cousin Shihab ibn Khalifa, who was among their nobles and inclined toward Islam; those men forbade him, and he turned toward them. On that, a man of the Muslims named Mihrash ibn Ghanma ibn ad-Dumayl said poetry: « There was a band of the people of Amr calling Shihab to the religion of the Prophet.

The notables of Thamud, all together, he inclined toward answering them; had he answered, Salih would have become honored among us, but they preferred not their companion over Du'ab. As for the ghouls of the people of al-Hijr, they turned, after their guidance, into wolves. »

That is why Salih said to them: « this is the she-camel of Allah, a sign for you »: he attributed her to Allah with an attribution that honors and magnifies, like His word: the House of Allah, the servant of Allah. « A sign for you », that is, a proof of the truth of what I have come to you with. « So leave her to eat in Allah's earth and touch her not with harm, lest a near punishment seize you. » The situation agreed that this she-camel would remain among them, grazing wherever she wished in their land, coming to water one day after another; when she came to the water, she drank the well's water that day, and they drew their need of water that day for the morrow.

It is said that they drank of her milk sufficient for their need. That is why he said: « she has her drink, and you have your drink, on a day appointed. » And that is why the Most High said: « We shall send the she-camel as a trial for them », that is, to test them: will they believe in her or disbelieve? « So watch them », that is: await what will come of them, « and be patient » under the harm they do you; the news will come to you plainly.

« And inform them that the water is divided between them, each drink attended. »

The hamstringing of the she-camel of Salih

When this state grew long upon them, their notables gathered, and their opinion agreed upon hamstringing this she-camel, to be rid of her and have their water plentiful. Satan adorned their deeds for them. Allah the Most High said: « they hamstrung the she-camel and turned away from the command of their Lord, and they said: O Salih, bring upon us what you promise us, if you are among the sent » (al-A'raf, 77). The one among them who took charge of her killing was their notable Qudar ibn Salif ibn Junda', who was red, blue-eyed, and short; it was said he was the son of a harlot, born upon Salif's bed, of a man called Siban. And that deed took place by the agreement of them all, which is why the deed was attributed to all of them.

Ibn Jarir and others of the scholarly exegetes mentioned that two women of Thamud, one of whom was named Saduf bint al-Muhayya ibn Zuhayr ibn al-Muhayya, a woman of lineage and wealth, the wife of a man of Aslam; she left him and called her cousin named Misda' ibn Mihraj ibn al-Muhayya, and offered herself to him if he hamstrung the she-camel. The second was named Unayza bint Ghunaym ibn Mijlaz, known by the kunya Umm Uthman; she was an old disbelieving woman who had daughters from her husband Du'ab ibn Amr, one of the chiefs; she offered her four daughters to Qudar ibn Salif if he hamstrung the she-camel: whichever of her daughters he wished. These two young men were thus dispatched for her hamstringing, and they sought among their people support for it; seven others answered, and they became nine: these are those mentioned in the word of the Most High: « there were in the city nine persons who corrupted the earth and did not reform it. » They then sought the rest of the tribe, made her hamstringing fair-seeming to them, and they answered to it and complied.

They set out to lie in wait for the she-camel: when she returned from her watering, Misda' shot her with an arrow that severed the bone of her leg. The women of the tribe came out for her killing, uncovering their faces to entice them. Qudar ibn Salif rushed upon her, struck her with the sword and cut her hock; she fell to the ground, letting out one great cry that warned her offspring. Then he struck the middle of her body and slaughtered her, and her young went out, climbed a rugged mountain, and cried out three times.

Abd al-Razzaq reported, from Ma'mar, from one who heard al-Hasan, that he said: the young one said: O Lord, where is my mother? Then it entered into a rock and vanished within it. It is said: rather they followed it and hamstrung it too. The Most High said: « they called their companion, and he took and hamstrung her. How then were My punishment and My warning! » And the Most High said: « when the most wretched of them rose up. The messenger of Allah said to them: the she-camel of Allah, and her drink », that is: beware of her; they belied him and hamstrung her: their Lord crushed them for their sin, and He leveled it.

Imam Ahmad said: Abdullah ibn Numayr reported to us, Hisham, that is ibn Urwa, reported to us, from his father, from Abdullah ibn Zamma'a, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) delivered a sermon and mentioned the she-camel, and mentioned the one who hamstrung her, and he said:

« When the most wretched of them rose up: a man rose for her, fierce, powerful, obeyed among his people, like Abu Zamma'a. »

Reported by Ahmad

The two compilers of the Sahih extracted it from the hadith of Hisham. « Fierce » means bold; « powerful » means a chief; « obeyed » means followed among his people.

Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Yazid ibn Muhammad ibn Khuthaym reported to me, from Muhammad ibn Ka'b, from Muhammad ibn Khuthaym Abu Yazid, from Ammar ibn Yasir, who said: the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said to Ali:

« Shall I not tell you of the most wretched of people? Two men: one is Uhaymir Thamud, who hamstrung the she-camel; and the one who will strike you, O Ali, here, until this becomes soaked with it », pointing to his temple, then his beard.

Reported by Ibn Abi Hatim

The Most High said: « they hamstrung the she-camel and turned away from the command of their Lord, and they said: O Salih, bring upon us what you promise us, if you are among the sent » (al-A'raf, 77). In this speech of theirs gathered a profound disbelief from several angles: they opposed Allah and His messenger by committing the firm prohibition of hamstringing the she-camel Allah had made for them a sign; and they hastened the descent of the punishment upon them, deserving it from two angles: the condition binding them in His word: « touch her not with harm, lest a near punishment seize you »; in one verse « great », in another « painful », all of it true; and their haste toward it. And also this: they belied the messenger although the decisive proof of his prophethood and truthfulness had been established, and they knew that with absolute certainty; but disbelief, error and obstinacy carried them to repelling the truth and the descent of the punishment upon them.