People of Thamud

Abu Abdullah (asws) said when it was said to him (asws) “[54:23] (The tribe of) Thamud rejected warnings [54:24] For they said; Is it a mortal man, alone among us, that we are to follow? Then indeed we should fall into error and madness [54:25] Has the reminder been made to light upon him from among us? Nay! he is an insolent liar!”, he (asws) said: ‘This is what they belied Saleh (as) with, and Allah (azwj) Mighty and Majestic does not Destroy a people at all until He (azwj) Sends to them, before that, the Messenger (as). They argued against them (the Messengers (as)), so Allah (azwj) Sent Saleh (as) to them. He (as) called them towards Allah (azwj). They did not respond and were insolent to him (as), and said, ‘We will not believe you (as) until you (as) bring out for us from this rock a tame she-camel. And it was a rock which they used to magnify and worship and make their sacrifices near to its peak every year, and they used to gather around it. They said, ‘If you (as) are as you are alleging to be, a Prophet (as), a Messenger (as), so call upon your (as) Lord (azwj) for us until He (azwj) Brings out for us from this solid rock a tame she-camel’. So Allah (azwj) Brought it out as they had sought from him (as). Then Allah (azwj) Blessed and High Revealed unto him (as): “O Saleh (as)! Tell them that Allah (azwj) has Made a share for this she-camel, from the water, that it would drink from it one day and you would drink from it the next day”. And the day which was designated for the she-camel to drink, it would drink the water during that day. They would then milk her, and there did not remain any young one or old one except that he drank from her milk in the day of theirs when it was the night time. And in the morning they would drink from the water, and the she-camel would not drink from it during that day. So that situation prevailed until such time as Allah (azwj) so Desired it to. Then they rebelled against Allah (azwj) and some of them walked towards the others and said, ‘Slay this she-camel, and be relaxed from it. We are not happy that there should be a day for us to drink and a day for it to drink’. Then they looked around for someone who could slay it, and made for him (a reward) of what he loved. So there came to them a red, blonde, blue-eyed man, of an adulterous birth, whose father was unknown, called Qudaar. A wretched one of all wretched ones of a sinister character, so they made up for him a reward for it. So when the she-camel went towards the water to drink from it, he left it until it had drunk the water. When it returned, he sat waiting for it upon its path. He struck her with the sword but it did not kill her. So he struck at it again and killed her and it fell down upon the earth on its side, and its young ones fled until they sat upon the mountain. They cried out three times towards the sky. And the people of Saleh (as) came over. So there did not remain anyone from them except that he participated in hitting it, and they distributed its meat in between themselves. There did not remain anyone from them, whether young or old except that he ate from it. So when Saleh (as) saw that, he (as) came up to them and said, ‘O People! What called you all to do what you have done and rebelled against your Lord (azwj)?’ So Allah (azwj) Blessed and High unto Saleh (as): “Your (as) people have been tyrannous and rebellious, and killed the she-camel that was Sent to them as a Proof to them, and there was no harm in it for them, and there were great benefits from it for them. So tell them that I (azwj) will be Sending upon you all My (azwj) Punishment after three days. So they were to repent and return (from their ways), I (azwj) shall Accept their repentance and Prevent it from them, and if they do not repent and do not return (from their ways), I (azwj) will Send to them My (azwj) Punishment on the third day”. So Saleh (as) came and said to them: ‘O people! I (as) am a Messenger (as) of your Lord (azwj). He (azwj) is Saying to you all that if you were to repent and return (from your ways) and seek Forgiveness, He (azwj) would Forgive you all and Turn towards you (Mercifully)’. So when he (as) said that to them they became more rebellious and treacherous than what they had been and said, ‘O Saleh (as)! Let it come to us, what you (as) are calling for us, if you (as) are from the Messengers (as), the truthful ones’. He (as) said: ‘O people! When you wake up tomorrow morning your faces would be yellow, and on the second day your faces would be red, and on the third day your faces would be black’. So when it was the morning of the first day and their faces turned yellow, some of them walked towards the others and said, ‘There has come upon you what Saleh (as) had spoken of’. So the rebellious ones among them said, ‘We will not listen to the words of Saleh (as) and will not accept his (as) words, even though they may be great’. So when it was the morning of the second day and their faces turned red, some of them walked towards the others and said, ‘O people! There has come upon you what Saleh (as) had spoken about for you all’. So the rebellious ones among them said, ‘Even if we were all to be destroyed, we will not listen to the words of Saleh (as) nor will we leave our gods which our forefathers had been worshipping, nor will we repent, nor will we return (from our ways)’. So when it was the morning of the third day and their faces turned black. So some of them walked towards the others and said, ‘O people! There has come upon you what Saleh (as) had spoken of for you all’. So the rebellious ones from among them said, ‘Let it come upon us what Saleh (as) had said to us’. So when it was the middle of the night, Jibraeel (as) came upon them and screamed out a loud scream at them which broke their eardrums, and split their hearts, and ruptured their livers. And during those three days they had been applying camphor upon themselves, and shrouding themselves, and they knew that the Punishment would be descending upon them. So all of them died in the blink of an eye, their young ones as well as their old ones. There did not remain for them a she-camel, or a sheep, or anything except that Allah (azwj) Destroyed it. They had all died in their homes and on their beds. Then Allah (azwj) Sent upon them Fire along with the Scream from the sky. So it burnt all of them, and this was their story’.