The companions of Al-Hijr are Thamud, and Al-Hijr is their valley. It is between Medina and Ash-Sham. The messengers refer to their denial of Salih, because whoever denies one of them is as if he has denied them all. Or he meant Salih and those with him from the believers, as it was said: the deniers in the time of Ibn Az-Zubair and his companions. And from Jabir: We passed by the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, at Al-Hijr. I did not find it in the narration of Jabir, but it is in the authentic narration from Ibn Umar with this wording without the mention of 'his she-camel.' And in a narration: That was during the Battle of Tabuk. He said to us, 'Do not enter the dwellings of those who have wronged themselves unless you are weeping, lest you be struck by what struck these.' Then the Prophet, blessings and peace be upon him, urged his mount to move quickly until he was behind it, feeling safe from the strength of the houses and their solid construction, lest they collapse and their structure fall apart, and from the theft of thieves and enemies and the calamities of time. Or feeling safe from the punishment of Allah, thinking that the mountains protect them from it, due to what they earned from building solid houses, wealth, and numbers.