His saying, exalted and majestic is He:

﴿Thamud denied the messengers﴾ ﴿When their brother Salih said to them, 'Will you not fear Allah?﴾ ﴿Indeed, I am to you a trustworthy messenger﴾ ﴿So fear Allah and obey me﴾ ﴿And I do not ask you for it any reward. My reward is only from the Lord of the worlds﴾ ﴿Will you be left in what is here, secure?﴾ ﴿In gardens and springs﴾ ﴿And crops and date palms with soft fruit﴾ ﴿And you carve out of the mountains, houses, feeling secure?﴾ ﴿So fear Allah and obey me﴾ ﴿And do not obey the order of the extravagant﴾ ﴿Who cause corruption in the land and do not amend﴾ ﴿They said, 'You are only one of those bewitched﴾ ﴿You are not but a human being like us, so bring us a sign if you are among the truthful﴾ ﴿He said, 'This is a she-camel for you. She has a time for drinking, and you have a time for drinking on a known day﴾ ﴿And do not touch her with harm, lest the punishment of a great day seize you﴾ ﴿But they slaughtered her, so they became regretful﴾ ﴿And the punishment seized them. Indeed, in that is a sign, but most of them were not believers﴾ ﴿And indeed, your Lord is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful﴾

"Thamud": an Arab tribe. It can be declined or not declined according to the intention of the tribe or clan. It has been recited in both ways: the majority without declension, and Ibn Wathab and others with declension. And "Salih" is their brother in lineage. The prophets from the Arabs are four: Hud, Salih, Shu'ayb, and Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him and upon them all. And Ishmael, peace be upon him, is Arabic in tongue and Syrian in lineage, and he is the father of the Arabs existing today.

And His saying: ﴿Will you be left in what is here﴾ is a warning to them, meaning: Do you hope to remain in the blessings while you are disobedient? And "the soft fruit" means: the tender, moist one. And "the fruit" refers to the cluster of dates before it emerges from the bud in its early growth, as if indicating that its fruit ripens and becomes moist. Ibn Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, said: It ripens and reaches its peak while it is soft. And Al-Zuhri said: The soft fruit is the tender, delicate one that emerges first. And Al-Zajjaj said: It is - as it is said - that which is moist without a pit. And Al-Dahhak said: The soft fruit is that which is stacked upon itself.

(p-500) Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad, may Allah have mercy on him, said:

And this is weak.

And the majority read: "You carve out" with a kasra on the ح, and Al-Kisai read it with a fatha, and he mentioned that it is a language. Abu Amr said: This is the reading of Al-Hasan and Abu Haywah. And Hamzah, Al-Kisai, Al-Asim, and Ibn Amer read: "feeling secure," which is the reading of Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Abbas. And Nafi, Ibn Kathir, and Abu Amr read: "feeling secure." And Mujahid read: "exceedingly secure" with a meem, on the pattern of: مُتَفَعِّلِينَ, and the term is derived from الفراهة, which is the quality of appearance and the strength of its perfection in its kind. So the meaning of the verse is: two who are concerned, as said by Ibn Abbas. And Mujahid said: greedy ones. And Ibn Zayd said: strong ones. And Abu Amr Ibn Al-Ala said: arrogant and haughty ones. And Abdullah Ibn Shaddad went to the meaning of: excessively secure, meaning: those who are excessive in acquiring the good from everything they do and desire.

And His saying, exalted is He: "And do not obey the command of the extravagant," addresses the majority of his people. He means by the extravagant their leaders and the figures of disbelief and misguidance among them. And His saying: "from the extravagant" has two interpretations: one of them is taken from magic (with a broken 'sīn'), meaning: you have been enchanted, and therefore you are mad and do not speak with sound reasoning. The second is taken from magic (with a opened 'sīn'), which refers to the lung. It is said that magic is the reed of the lung and what is related to it from the liver and others, meaning: you, son of Adam, are like us; it is not correct for you to be a messenger from Allah, exalted is He. What follows in the verse strengthens this interpretation. From the wording, there is the saying of Labid:

If you ask us about what we are, then we are birds from this enchanted creation.

And it is said that for the purpose of guidance, it is called 'tashīr' (the act of enchanting). From it is the saying of Imru' al-Qais:

And we enchant with food and drink.

Then they proposed to him a sign, and it has been narrated that they proposed the emergence of a she-camel from a mountain among their mountains. Its story in this verse is brief and has already been comprehensively discussed. When the she-camel emerged, he said to them: "This is a she-camel that has a share of water," meaning: the portion of water. Ibn Abi 'Abla read: "has a share and you have a share" with a dāma (the letter 'shīn') in both. The stories of the she-camel's arrival have already been mentioned. And "the evil" refers to its slaughter, and he warned them of punishment for it. The apparent meaning of his command is that he intended it in this world, and he attributed the slaughter to all of them, while the specific responsibility of al-Ahmar for its slaughter was based on their agreement on that opinion and planning. And His saying: "So they became regretful," when the change of their colors appeared to them as Salih, peace be upon him, had informed them, they regretted. They saw that the matter was as he had informed them until the punishment descended upon them. There was a cry that froze their bodies, and their hearts split, and they died one after another, and stones were rained upon them during that.