AL-HUDA
Foundation, NJ U. S. A
the Message Continues ... 2/83
Article 1 - Article 2 - Article 3 - Article 4 - Article 5 - Article 6 - Article 7 - Article 8 - Article 9 - Article 10 - Article 11 - Article 12
PROPHET SALEH
Saleh was born in the ninth generation from Nuh. He was
appointed prophet for the Thamud people who
inhabited the mutinous territory between Hejaz and
Palestine. They built their homes by hewing the rocky
faces of cliffs. They lived long lives and worshiped
gods made from stone.
They refused to listen to the wisdom of Saleh and
challenged him to show them any sign to prove that an
invisible God existed. They demanded a miracle at their
annual festival. They told Saleh: "You pray to your God
and we will pray to ours. Let us see whose prayer is
accepted, yours or ours. That will decide the matter
between us.
They came in drones from around the land and gathered
around their decorated stone gods and brought offerings
for fulfilments of their prayers. Clearly the stone gods
were unable to respond to their prayers. They then
turned to Saleh and one of them asked him to pray to his
God and to bring out a pregnant camel from the large
boulder that was lying on the ground, and if this
she-camel had an off-spring bom in front of their eyes,
they would accept Saleh's God as theirs as well.
Saleh prayed to The Almighty Allah and sure enough a
pregnant she-camel rose out of the large boulder and
gave birth to a calf as they watched. They were clearly
struck with wonder on this miracle.
In accordance with Allah's Command, Saleh told the
people that they must share their drink with the camel.
It was agreed that the people would use the water from
the village well on all days of the week except one day
which was reserved for the camel and her baby. But they
were a disobedient people. They refused the animals to
drink or graze freely in the territory as agreed, and
forced Saleh to assume their full responsibility. Saleh
told them that the camel and her baby were there because
they had asked for the miracle, and they must take care
of the animals. They threatened to kill the two
animals. He then reminded them of the benevolence of
Allah that only He could bestow over His creation
without asking for it, namely water, rain, fertility of
the land where crops grow, the stone cliffs where they
built their homes, and the clean air that they breathed.
They must refrain from their threatened acts otherwise
they would bring down a disaster over themselves.
One day the people carried out their threat and slew
both the mother and her baby camel. This invited Allah's
immediate wrath.
Allah instructed Saleh to leave the territory along with
his family and a small group of true believers before
His wrath would strike that insolent people. No sooner
the pious group of believers had crossed over the
last of the cliffs, than a tremendous earth quake -shook
the land with a blinding lightning and an ear shattering
thunder. The entire people in that territory perished
along with their false gods.
References:
al Qur'an: Sura Araf, ]Lud, Ibrahim, Hajar,
Furqan,
Shu'ra' Nahl, Ankabooi, Ha-Meem Sajdah, Zariyat, Qamar,
al-Haqah, Fajar, Shams. |
|
HOME - NEWSLETTERS - BOOKS - ARTICLES - CONTACT - FEEDBACK
DISCLAIMER:
All material published by Al-Huda.com / And the Message Continues is the sole responsibility of its author's).
The opinions and/or assertions contained therein do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this site,
nor of Al-Huda and its officers.