The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Sâlih: The Prophet Sâlih (PUH)

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The Prophet Sâlih (PUH) He is Sâlih ben Þamud ben `Âbir ben Iram ben Shem ben Noah (PUH), he was sent to Þamud and they are his tribe and one of the Arabs and were called after their grandfather and he is Þamud ben `Âbir ben Iram ben Shem ben Noah (PUH), and God said in the chapter of Al-A`râf: And to (the tribe of) Thamud (We sent) their brother Salih. He said: O my people! Serve Allah. Ye have no other Allah save Him. A wonder from your Lord hath come unto you. Lo! this is the camel of Allah, a token unto you; so let her feed in Allah's earth, and touch her not with hurt lest painful torment seize you(Al-A`râf:73). In tidings from Al-Bâqir (PUH) from his grandfather from Gabriel (PUH) what has the main meaning with little change in versions of it that: Sâlih was sent to his people and he was sixteen years old, and kept on calling them until he reached one hundred and twenty years old and never answered him for good. They had seventy idols that they worshipped instead of God, so when he observed such attitude from them he said to them: O folks, I've been sent to you and I was sixteen years old, and now I've reached one hundred and twenty years old, so I'm offering for you two choices to choose from, either I ask my God whatever you want from Him and He will answer you whatever you asked for at the moment, or I shall ask your gods and if they answered me back for what I asked, I shall go out from the tribe, you've been sick of me and I've been sick of you. So, they said: you've been just Sâlih so get ready for a day for all to get out, so when they went out with their idols they told him: O Sâlih ask whoever you want, so he said to the greatest and called him by its name: O you, answer me, but it didn't answer, so said Sâlih: why he doesn't answer? They answered him: ask another one, so he went to their idols one by one asking them, but none did answer.
Then they did prostrate before them in the dust seeking an answer to his calls from their idols, but nothing happened, so then he did say: O folks, the day is almost over and I don't see any answer from your gods, so ask me to pray for my God and He will answer you at the moment, so they chose from themselves seventy men that were of high positions amongst them and said to him: if your God answered us no one of us will refuse [refuse the religion], so they all went to some mountain near by, by their request, and when they reached it they said: O Sâlih, ask your God to let out of this mountain at this moment a she-camel that is reddish and has lot of hair and got a pregnancy period of ten months, so Sâlih said to them: you've asked for something so great for me but so easy for my God, and then just after Sâlih finished his callings to his God, the Exalted, the mountain then started to break and fault which made them almost lose their brains when they heard the sound of its cracking, and then the moutain started to shake as a woman started to give birth, then her head went out of that crack and started to get out of it until she stood on the ground, so when they saw this they said to him: O Sâlih, how fast did your God answer, call your God to get out of her her weanling, so he asked God for this and so it happened and then said to them: O folks, anything left? So they said: No, so they went along with him to their people and the she-camel with her weanling with them, but before they reach the people, fifty six men of them got back to their religion and only five remained with him, and the public then said that this is magic and not reality.
And from tidings from Al-Sâdiq (PUH) in his interpretation to God's saying: (The tribe of) Thamud rejected warnings(Al-Qamar:23), so he said (PUH): this is about what they rejected from Sâlih, and God never destroyed a nation before sending the messengers to it and have the reasons to destroy them, so God sent to them Sâlih to call them back to God but they didn't answer him and been aggressive towards him and said to him: we won't believe in you until you get out for us from this rock a she-camel that has a pregnancy period of ten months, and that rock was something sacred for them and they worshipped it and also sacrifice for it at the beginning of each year and gather around it, so they said: if you are a messenger as you claim ask your God to let out of this rock a she-camel that has pregnancy period of ten months, and God lat it out as they requested.
Then God inspired to him that tell them that God made for this she-camel a whole day of drink, and then for you a whole day of drink. So, whenever it was the day of her drink, she drinks all the water and then they milk it and no adult or young is left in their town without drinking from her milk in that day, and when night is passed and morning comes, they go to their water and drink and the she-camel never drinks and so they stayed like that as much as God wanted. Then they rebelled against God's will and they argued between each other and said: kill that she-camel and get rid of it, we don't accept that she has a whole day of drink and then a whole day of drink for us, then they said: who can kill her and we'll reward him as much as he wants? So, a man with reddish and bluish skin, came out of sin, and has no known father and was called "Qaddâr ben Sâlif", he was of ill manners and so famous for that, so they made a reward for him. So, when the she-camel went to the water that she used to go to, he left it until she drank of that water and when she was in her way back he showed up to her and stroke her with his sword one time but it didn't do anything to her, and then he stroke her again and killed her, so she fill on her side, and her weanling escaped away and climbed a mountain and prattled three times towards the sky, and the people of Sâlih came and shared the man his strike and divided her meat amongst them so no young or adult is left without eating of her meat. Some tidings also say that four people went after her weanling when it escaped and shot an arrow towards it and it got into its heart so it dropped to earth, then they pulled it from its legs down and put its meat with its mother's meat and divided it amongst them, then Sâlih warned them and said to them: why did you do that? did you refuse the commandments of your God? So then God inspired to Sâlih that your people had rebelled and killed the she-camel that was sent to them by God as a clue for them, and they weren't harmed by her and they had in and from her the greatest benefits so say to them: I'm going to send my torment to you after three days, so if they regretted and made repentance towards their God, He will accept it and Will not torment them, and if they didn't make repentance His torment will arrive in the third day, so Sâlih brought the message of God to them and said to them: O folks, I'm a messenger from your Lord to you, and He says to you that if you made repentance I will accept it, so when he finished saying this they got even more rebellious and said: O Sâlih, let whatever you claim come true if you're truthful. Then Sâlih told them that the signs of their torture will be that in the first day their faces will become yellow, and then in the second day will become red, and then in the third day will become black and the torment will come upon them.
It is one of famous tidings that says that when they saw their faces being yellow in the first day they walked to each other and said to each other: what Sâlih said became true, and then in the second day when their faces became reddish they noticed that and argued about the truthfulness of Sâlih (PUH) but their tyrants did not accept and never believed and said: we will never accept what Sâlih said, and then when their faces got black in the third day their tyrants said: if we all died and destroyed we will never listen to him and never leave our gods that our fathers used to worship, so when it was the midnight Gabriel (PUH) came and shout on them and made them almost deaf and broke down their hearts so then all of them were dead within an eye's glance, and nothing is left of them alive (and morning found them prostrate in their dwelling-place(Al-A`râf:78)), and then God sent over them a fire that burnt them all.
He said in the chapter of Hud: and touch her not with harm lest a near torment seize you, But they hamstrung her, and then he said: Enjoy life in your dwelling-place three days! This is a threat that will not be belied, So, when Our commandment came to pass, We saved Salih, and those who believed with him, by a mercy from Us, from the
ignominy of that day(Hud:64-66). And God said: And the (awful) Cry overtook those who did wrong, so that morning found them prostrate in their dwellings(Hud:67). And what an example for everyone of God's creation that has a fine thinking and faith, and God also said speaking to His beloved The Chosen [The prophet Muhammad] (PUH): And all that We relate unto thee of the story of the messengers is in order that thereby We may make firm thy heart. And herein hath come unto thee the Truth and an exhortation and a reminder for believers(Hud:120).
The story of Þamud was mentioned in the Holy Quran in eleven chapters: Al-A`râf, Hud, Al-Hijr, Al-Sho`arâ', Al-Naml, Fossilat, Al-Ðariyât, Al-Najm, Al-Qamar, Al-Hâqqah, and Al-Shams. And the name of Sâlih (PUH) was mentioned seven times in them in: Al-A`râf, Hud, Al-Hijr, Al-Sho`arâ. The miracle of Sâlih was the she-camel and her weanling because she was founded without a reasnable cause to let her out of the rock, and the birth of her weanling without a male, but only by the Will of God, by the prayers and callings of Sâlih (PUH), so God created her and founded her as the creation of Adam and Eve without a father or a mother, and Jesus the son of Mary is without a father as well. God founded her for Sâlih by his prayers as a clue for his truthfulness and a miracle from the Creator of Universe and the Founder of time and space for His Oneness.
It is apparent that the Holy Quran did not mention anything about her getting out from a rock or a mountain or anything else, yes it is mentioned later on by the prophet (PUH) and his purified viceroys and it is traced back to them in speeches and interpretations for the holy book and by other trusted followers and others who discussed the situations of prophets and messengers, but the most trusted are the Household of Muhammad (PUT), and the people of the house know better what's inside it. Yes, the Holy Quran attributed her to God like all creatures are, and she is His creation and mentioned that as: And the messenger of Allah said: It is the she-camel of Allah, so let her drink!(Al-Shams:13), meaning don't kill her and don't keep her away from drinking, but they lied and killed her. And also God said: Lo! We are sending the she-camel as a test for them; so watch them and have patience(Al-Qamar:27). And also God said: He said: (Behold) this she-camel. She hath the right to drink (at the well), and ye have the right to drink, (each) on an appointed day(Al-Sho`orâ':155). And also God said: O my people! This is the camel of Allah, a token unto you, so suffer her to feed in Allah's earth, and touch her not with harm lest a near torment seize you(Hud:64). And also in the chapter of Al-A`râf: A wonder from your Lord hath come unto you. Lo! this is the camel of Allah, a token unto you; so let her feed in Allah's earth, and touch her not with hurt lest painful torment seize you(Al-A`râf:73).

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