'In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful' His saying - glorified and exalted is He -: ﴿He said, 'Indeed, there has come upon you from your Lord a disgrace and anger. Do you argue with me about names you have named, you and your forefathers, for which Allah has not sent down any authority? So wait; indeed, I am with you among those who wait.'﴾ ﴿So We saved him and those with him by a mercy from Us, and We cut off the last of those who denied Our signs and they were not believers.﴾ ﴿And to Thamud, their brother Salih said, 'O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. There has come to you a clear proof from your Lord. This is the she-camel of Allah, a sign for you. So let her graze in the land of Allah and do not touch her with any harm, lest a painful punishment seize you.'﴾ He informed them that the decree had been executed; and that disgrace had descended upon them; and that it is wrath; and punishment; it is said: 'Rijis' and 'Rijz' are one meaning; this was said by Abu Amr ibn al-Ala; and the poet said: If there was a year in Najd that was encompassing, ∗∗∗ then upon them was its disgrace and its punishment. And disgrace may also come in the meaning of 'filth'; and 'impurity'; and it is said in 'the return': 'Rijis' and 'Rikz'; and this disgrace is a metaphor for the prohibited things; meaning it should be avoided just as filth is avoided; (p-599) and similar in meaning is the saying of the Prophet - blessings and peace be upon him - in the report of Jahjah al-Ghifari and Sinan ibn Wabr al-Ansari when they called with the call of ignorance: 'Leave it, for indeed it is foul.' And His saying: ﴿Do you argue with me about names you have named, you and your forefathers?﴾; he means that they are disputing with him about being called deities; so the argument occurred in the names; not in the named; but it has come in the Qur'an: ﴿What you worship besides Him are only names you have named, you and your forefathers.﴾ [Yusuf: 40]; so here he means only the idols themselves; the name is intended to refer to the named itself. Al-Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And whoever sees that the argument in this verse occurred regarding the idols themselves and their worship, he interprets this interpretation; and the name in the speech of the Arabs refers to the naming; and this is the door that the grammarians have used; and it may refer to the named; and what is close to it in saying indicates this; from that is His saying: ﴿Glorify the name of your Lord, the Most High.﴾ [Al-A'la: 1]; on the basis that this is interpreted; and among it is the saying of Labid: To the year then the name of peace be upon you both ∗∗∗ ∗∗∗................... on interpretations in the verse; and the matter has passed in the beginning of the book; and 'al-Sultan': (p-600) the proof; and His saying: ﴿So wait; indeed, I am with you among those who wait.﴾; the verse; a warning; and a threat.

The pronoun in His saying, "So We saved him"; [Al-A'raf: 83] refers back to Hud - blessings and peace be upon him -; meaning: Allah, the Most High, brought him out safe; saved; along with those who followed him from the believers; by the mercy of Allah, the Most High, and His grace; and Hud - blessings and peace be upon him - and those who believed with him went until they reached Makkah, and they stayed there until they died. "And We cut off the last of them"; is a metaphor used for those who are eradicated by destruction; and "the last" refers to those who follow the people; and when the cutting off and eradication reaches that point; no one remains; and His saying: "They denied Our signs" [Al-A'raf: 64]; indicates the miracle; even if it is not specified for it.

And His saying, "And to Thamud"; the verse; is Thamud, the son of Ghain, the son of Iram, the son of Sam, the son of Noah; the brother of Judais, the son of Ghain; and Yahya ibn Wathab read: "And to Thamud"; with a kasra on the dal; and with tanween in all of the Qur'an; and it is in the form of the name of the tribe; and leaving it in the form of the name of the people; this was said by Al-Zajjaj; and Allah, the Most High, said: "Indeed, Thamud disbelieved in their Lord" [Hud: 68]; so the meaning is: "And We sent to Thamud their brother"; thus it is connected to Noah; and the brotherhood here is the brotherhood of kinship; and Al-Zajjaj said: it is possible that it is the brotherhood of humanity; and he was called their brother when he was sent to them; and they are an Arab people; and Hud and Salih - blessings and peace be upon them - are both Arabs; and likewise Ismail and Shu'ayb - blessings and peace be upon them -; this is what Al-Naqqash said; and regarding Ismail - blessings be upon him - there is a consideration; and Salih - blessings be upon him - is Salih ibn Ubaid ibn Arim ibn Iram ibn Sam ibn Noah; this is what Makki mentioned; and Wahb said: Allah, the Most High, sent him when he reached puberty; and when his people perished, he migrated with those who were with him to Makkah; and they stayed there until they died; and their graves are between the House of Al-Nadwah and Al-Hijr.

And His saying: "A clear sign"; is an attribute; the described has been omitted; and the attribute has taken its place; Sibawayh said: and this is ugly in the indefinite; that it be omitted and its attribute take its place; but if the attribute is frequently used and well-known; and it is the intended one in the reports; and the nations; the ugliness is removed; as you say: "A servant came to me for the sons of so-and-so"; and you mean: "A man, a servant, came to me"; because "a servant" is an attribute; so likewise His saying here "a clear sign"; the meaning is: a sign; or a proof; or a clear admonition; and some people said: indeed Salih - blessings and peace be upon him - brought the she-camel from himself; and a group said; which is the majority: rather it was requested.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this is more appropriate to what has been reported in the narrations regarding their matter. It has been narrated that some of them said: O Salih, if you are truthful, call upon your Lord to bring forth for us from this hill - and in some narrations: from this rock; for there is a rock in Al-Hijr, which is called Al-Kathibah - a she-camel that is pregnant. He said: So he called upon Allah, the Exalted, and that hill began to tremble; it shook and split open to reveal a great she-camel. It has been narrated that she was pregnant; she gave birth to her famous offspring. It has been reported that her offspring came out with her from the rock; and it has been narrated that a camel from the camels of Thamud struck her, and she gave birth to her famous offspring. It was said: 'The she-camel of Allah'; as an honor for her and specification; and it is the addition of a creation to the Creator. Al-Zajjaj said: And it was said that she was a she-camel from among the other she-camels; and Allah, the Exalted, made for her a drinking time one day; and for them a drinking time one day; and the verse was regarding her drinking and milking.

The judge Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And Al-Naqqash narrated from Al-Hasan that he said: 'She is a she-camel that was taken from their camels; and she was not milking.' And what is upon the people is stronger and more correct than this. The commentators said: And she was a great she-camel; she would come to the water between two mountains, and they would crowd her because of her size; and she shared with Thamud in the water, day by day. So she would come to drink on her day and would be milked as they wished from her milk; then she would remain for a day; and would come back after that intermittently. This continued as long as Allah, the Exalted, willed until Thamud killed her. They said: What should we do with the milk? Water is more beloved to us than it. And the reason for their boredom - as has been narrated - is that she would summer in the valley's belly; the valley of Al-Hijr; and would winter in its outer part. So their livestock would flee from her; she would summer in the valley's back for the heat; and would winter in its inner part for the cold. And because of that, they conspired to kill the she-camel; and Salih - peace be upon him - said to them once: 'Indeed, this month a child will be born who will be your destruction at his hands.' So ten men had children, and the nine slaughtered their children; and the tenth remained; he was Salif, Abu Qidar. Qidar grew up red and blue; and when the nine saw him, they said: If our sons had lived, they would have been like this. So he preserved them from killing their children by the words of Salih; and they all agreed to kill him - peace be upon him -; so they went out and ambushed him in a cave to kill him - peace be upon him - from it; and they divided: 'We will surely kill him and his family, then we will surely say to his guardian: We did not witness the destruction of his family' [An-Naml: 49]. So the cave fell upon them; and they died; and they are the nine men whom Allah, the Exalted, mentioned in His Book.

And Qidar ibn Salif and Misda' ibn Mihraj conspired together with seven men. They resolved to slaughter the she-camel. It was narrated that the reason for this was that two women from Thamud, who were enemies of Salih - blessings and peace be upon him - made a pact with Qidar and Misda' to sacrifice the she-camel, and they were among the people of beauty. It was said that Qidar drank wine with a group, and they sought water to mix with the wine, but they could not find it due to the drinking of the she-camel. So they resolved to slaughter her at that time. They went out and sat on her path, and Qidar lay in ambush for her behind a rock. When she approached him, he threw a spear at her. Then she fell, and he slaughtered her. Then they pursued the calf, which fled from them until it climbed a hill and bellowed three times, seeking help. They chased it and slaughtered it. In some narrations, it is said that they found the calf on a rise of land, and they wanted it, but it ascended with it until it reached the sky. They could not catch it, so the calf bellowed, seeking help from Allah - blessed and exalted is He. Allah revealed to Salih - blessings and peace be upon him - to command them to enjoy themselves in their abode for three days. Al-Naqqash narrated from Al-Hasan that he said: Indeed, Allah made the calf speak, and it called out: Where is my mother? Salih - blessings and peace be upon him - said to them: "Indeed, the punishment will befall you on the fourth day from the slaughter of the she-camel." It was narrated that she was slaughtered on Wednesday. Salih - blessings and peace be upon him - said to them: "Your faces will turn red tomorrow, and they will turn yellow on the second day, and they will turn black on the third day, and the punishment will descend on the fourth day, on Sunday." When the sign he told them about appeared, they were certain and prepared themselves. They smeared their bodies with mud, dug graves, and perfumed themselves. Then the shout seized them, and Salih - blessings and peace be upon him - and those with him went out until they reached the sand of Palestine.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And this story I have summarized from much that Al-Tabari - may Allah have mercy on him - narrated, desiring brevity.

Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari said: I came to the land of Thamud and measured the chest of the she-camel, and I found it to be sixty cubits.

Qadi Abu Muhammad - may Allah have mercy on him - said: And the land of Thamud is between Syria and Medina; it is the place that the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - passed by with the Muslims during the expedition of Tabuk. He said: "Do not enter the dwellings of those who wronged themselves unless you are weeping, lest you be afflicted with what befell them." Then he covered his head with his turban and quickened his pace - blessings and peace be upon him.

It is narrated that the distance that the sound (p-603) which destroyed its people is eighteen miles. It is: the land of Al-Hijr; and its pastures are Al-Janab; and my destination is to the valley of Al-Qura; and what is around it. It was said regarding Qidar that he is the son of Zina; from a man who is called 'Dhabyān'; and he was born on the bed of a predecessor; so he was attributed to him. This was mentioned by Qatadah and others. Al-Tabari mentioned that 'the Messenger of Allah - blessings and peace be upon him - passed by a grave; and he said: