Saleh was called to preach a message to the people of Thamud. According to the Quran, these people cultivated very rich fertile land, and they had become very vain because of their wealth. They also worshipped many gods, oppressed the poor in their midst and lived lives which were far from the kind of lives Allah wanted them to lead. Saleh's message was very simple: He told his people to turn away from the bad behavior and to turn, instead, to the One God, Allah, who gave them all the good things they enjoyed.
Now that doesn't seem a very difficult message to grasp, does it? Yet the people of Thamud were very stubborn in their ways, and refused to accept the message which Saleh was bringing them.
God works in very strange ways, sometimes quite beyond our comprehension. This is, perhaps, the first thing we should note about the story of Saleh as it is told in the Quran.
God can choose any way to convey His message to us. We are often slow to understand, but He can speak to us through people and events, or He can even speak to us through the example of a camel. The fact that He tells us the story not once, but many times, is a sure sign that its message is important. The story as told in the Quran goes like this.
The people of Thamud were very vain and they refused to accept that Saleh was a messenger sent from God, so they asked him for a sign to prove his credentials. They asked him, in fact, not just for any sign, but something quite specific. They pointed at a huge rock that was standing by itself, and proposed to him that he ask his God to create a she-camel out of it.
Despite their obstinacy, Saleh did this, on the condition that they would believe in God if he produced the she-camel from the rock, and to this they agreed. Saleh then fervently prayed to God to answer their request.
The huge rock moved and split, and from it came a wonderful she-camel, which was pregnant and soon to give birth. God provided the Thamud people with this miracle to test them, to see if they would obey His orders. Saleh told them:. This she-camel of Allah is a sign to you. Leave her to feed on Allah's earth, and inflict no harm on her, or a swift punishment will seize you! The camel lived among people of Thamud, and soon gave birth to a calf. Some of the people accepted to believe in God because of what they had seen, and because of what they had promised.
Others, however, did not, and they began to hate the camel, as it reminded them of Saleh and of the promise they had made to him. It used to graze among their herds and drink from their water. In fact, one day it would drink, and the next day the other animals would drink. Saleh told them to let it drink from the water of the well for one day, and leave it to them the second day as Allah ordered:.
Instead of convincing them to be kind to the animal, they actually chose to harm it. As if their disbelief was not enough, they also challenged Saleh to bring down the punishment of God upon them if he was, indeed, a Prophet.
Worship Allah, you have no other Ilah god but Him. Salih was known for his wisdom, purity and goodness and had been greatly respected by his people before Allah's revelation came to him. Salih's people said to him: "O Salih! You have been among us as a figure of good hope and we wished for you to be our chief, till this, new thing which you have brought that we leave our gods and worship your God Allah alone!
Do you now forbid us the worship of what our fathers have worshipped? But we are really in grave doubt as to that which you invite us to monotheism. They merely wanted to worship the same gods as their fathers had, with no reason, no proof, no thought. The proof of Salih's PBUH message was evident, but despite this it was obvious that most of his people did not believe him.
They doubted his words, thinking he was charmed, and they saw that he would not stop preaching. Fearing that his followers would increase, they tried to put him off by assigning him an important task; to prove that he was a messenger of Allah by performing a miracle. Let a unique she camel issue from the mountains. Allah granted Salih this miracle and a huge, unique, she camel appeared from the direction of the mountain.
The Quranic commentators said that the people of Thamud gathered on a certain day at their meeting place, and the prophet Salih PBUH came and addressed them to believe in Allah, reminding them of the favors Allah had granted them. Then pointing at a rock, they demanded: "Ask your Lord to make a she camel, which must be 10 months pregnant, tall and attractive, issue from the rock for us. Salih replied: "Look now!
If Allah sends you what you have requested, just as you have described, will you believe in that which I have come to you with and have faith in the message I have been sent with?
So he took a vow from them on this, then prayed to Allah the Almighty to grant their request. Allah ordered the distant rock to split asunder, to bringing forth a great ten month pregnant she camel. When their eyes set on it, they were amazed. They saw a great thing, a wonderful sight, a dazzling power and clear evidence! A number of Salih's people believed, yet most of them continued in their disbelief, stubbornness, and going astray.
Allah the Almighty said: We sent the she camel to Thamud as a clear sign, but they did her wrong. Ch and also: Verily the dwellers of Al Hijr the rocky tract denied the Messengers. We gave them Our Signs, but they were averse to them. Ch Quran. There are a number of ancient accounts of this camel and its miraculous nature.
It was said that the she camel was miraculous because a rock in the mountain split open and it came forth from it, followed by its young offspring. Other accounts said that the she camel used to drink all the water in the wells in one day, and no other animals could approach the water. Still others claimed that the she camel produced milk sufficient for all the people to drink, on the same day that it drank all the water, leaving none for them.
At first, the people of Thamud were greatly surprised when the she camel issued from the mountain rocks. It was a blessed camel, and its milk sufficient for thousands of men, women and children. If it slept in a place that place was abandoned by other animals. Thus it was obvious that is was not an ordinary camel, but one of Allah's signs. Eventually a group among them plotted to attack and kill the camel, and dared Saleh to have God punish them for it. The people were later destroyed by an earthquake or volcanic eruption.
The story of Saleh is mentioned several times in the Quran. In one passage, his life and message are described as follows from the Quran chapter 7, verses :.
To the Thamud people was sent Saleh, one of their own brethren. Worship Allah; there is no other god but Him. Now comes to you a clear sign from your Lord! You build for yourselves palaces and castles in open plains, and carve out homes in the mountains. So bring to remembrance the benefits you receive from Allah, and refrain from mischief and evil on the earth. Bring about your threats, if you are truly a messenger of Allah! So the earthquake took them unaware, and they lay prostrate in their homes in the morning.
The life of the Prophet Saleh is also described in other passages of the Quran: , , and Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance.
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