Editing Thamud (section)

==Islamic sources==
Thamud is mentioned twenty-three times in the [[Quran]] as part of a moralistic lesson about God's destruction of sinful communities, a central motif in the Quran.{{sfn|Firestone|2006|p=252}} According to the Quran, the Thamud were the successors of a previous community called the [[ʿĀd]], who had also been destroyed for their sins. They lived in houses carved into the surface of the earth. God chose the [[prophets in Islam|prophet]] [[Salih]] to warn the polytheistic Thamud that they should worship the [[Tawhid|One God]]. The tribe refused to heed him, saying that Salih was merely a mortal, and demanded a sign from God. God sent down a [[Milch camel of God|milch camel]] as his sign, and Salih told his countrymen that they should not harm the camel and allow it to drink from their well. But the Thamud cut its [[hamstring]] or otherwise wounded it. God then destroyed the tribe, except for Salih and a few other righteous men. The means of God's destruction of Thamud include a thunderbolt, a storm, a shout, and an earthquake. The shout, which is an extremely loud sound, might have caused the earthquake, according to certain scholars. The account presented in [[Surah]] [[an-Naml]] also mentions nine evil people of Thamud who are immediately responsible for God's punishment of their people{{cite quran|27|48|end=51}} in a narrative reminiscent of Jewish descriptions of the demise of [[Sodom and Gomorrah|Sodom]].{{sfn|Firestone|2006|p=253}}

<blockquote>
To the Thamūd, We sent their brother, Ṣāliḥ. He said, "My people, worship God. You have no god other than Him. It was He who brought you into being from the earth and made you inhabit it, so ask forgiveness from Him, and turn back to Him: my Lord is near, and ready to answer." They said, "Ṣāliḥ, We used to have such great hope in you. Will you forbid us to worship what our fathers worshiped? We are in grave doubt about what you are asking us to do." He said, "My people, just think: if I did have clear proof from my Lord, and if He had given me mercy of His own, who could protect me from God if I disobeyed Him? You would only make my loss greater. My people, this camel belongs to God, a sign for you, so leave it to pasture on God's earth and do not harm it, or you will soon be punished." But they hamstrung it, so he said, "Enjoy life for another three days: this warning will not prove false." And so, when Our command was fulfilled, by Our mercy We saved Ṣāliḥ and his fellow believers from the disgrace of that day. [Prophet], it is your Lord who is the Strong, the Mighty One. The blast struck the evildoers and they lay dead in their homes, as though they had never lived and flourished there. Yes, the Thamūd denied their Lord—so away with the Thamūd!{{cite quran|11|61|end=68|tn=Abdel Haleem}}
</blockquote>

[[File:Madain Saleh (6811791359).jpg|thumb|Ruins of carved buildings at [[Hegra (Mada'in Salih)|Hegra]]]]

The Islamic [[tafsir|exegetical tradition]] adds detail to the Quran's account. Accordingly, the Thamud were a powerful and idolatrous tribe living in [[Hegra (Mada'in Salih)|Hegra]], now called Madāʼin Ṣāliḥ, the Cities of Ṣāliḥ—in northwestern Arabia. When Salih began to preach monotheism, the Thamud demanded that he prove his prophethood by bringing forth a pregnant camel from solid rock. When God permitted the prophet to do this, some of the tribesmen followed Salih, while many powerful leaders continued to oppose him. After giving birth, the camel drank all the water from a well every two days and then produced enormous amounts of milk for the people. But it was hamstrung and eventually killed by nine people of Thamud, who then attempted but failed to kill Salih himself. Having failed to save his people, Salih warned that they would be destroyed after three days. On the first day, their skin would turn yellow; on the second day, red; and on the final day of destruction, black. This came to pass, and Thamud was annihilated.{{sfn|Firestone|2006|pp=253–254}} The traditional Muslim view is that the destruction of Thamud occurred before the prophethood of [[Abraham]].{{sfn|Munt|2015|p=479}}

A ''[[hadith]]'' tradition preserved in the ''[[Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī]]'' collection narrates that the Islamic prophet [[Muhammad]] called Hegra "the land of Thamud" and did not allow his troops to drink from its wells or to use its water, and to never enter its ruins "unless weeping, lest occur to you what happened to them."{{sfn|Firestone|2006|p=254}} The stone constructions of Hegra are actually mostly from the [[Nabataean]] period, especially the first century CE.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1293 |title=Al-Hijr Archaeological Site (Madâin Sâlih) |author=<!--Not stated--> |year=2008 |website=whc.unesco.org |publisher=[[UNESCO World Heritage Centre]] |access-date= 22 August 2020}}</ref> The ninth-century Muslim scholar [[Ibn Saʿd]] believed that the Thamud were the Nabateans.{{sfn|Firestone|2006|p=254}}

Some Islamic sources claim that the [[Banu Thaqif]] tribe, an Arab tribe from [[Ta'if]] in the period of Muhammad, was descended from a survivor of the Thamud (sometimes a slave of Salih).{{sfn|Firestone|2006|p=254}}