scholars—that whenever someone came and gave her a certain amount of water, she would give him the same amount of milk. However, the Quran appears to indicate otherwise, for Allah Most High says: ﴿She shall have her turn to drink, and you shall have your turn to drink, each on an appointed day.﴾ [al-Shu‘arā’: 155]. Thus, the she-camel would drink from the well one day and yield milk the following day. Yet this sign did not benefit them.
﴿Thamūd denied the truth because of their transgression﴾—that is, because of their tyranny and insolence. The preposition here indicates causation: because they were tyrannical, they denied the Messenger. ﴿When the most wretched among them rose up﴾ explains the transgression mentioned by Allah, Mighty and Majestic: it occurred when the most wretched among them rose up. “Rose up” means that he set out swiftly. ﴿The most wretched among them﴾ means the most wretched of Thamūd—the greatest of them in wretchedness, and we seek refuge in Allah—intending to kill the she-camel.
Their Messenger, Sālih—peace be upon him—said to them: ﴿Do not harm Allah’s she-camel or deny her water.﴾ That is, leave Allah’s she-camel alone, as Allah Most High says in another verse: ﴿So leave her to graze in Allah’s land.﴾ [al-A‘rāf: 73]. In other words, leave the she-camel alone: do not kill her or subject her to any harm. But the outcome was precisely the opposite.
﴿But they rejected him﴾ means that they rejected Sālih and said, “You are not a messenger.” So it was with every messenger sent to his people: his people branded him with faults. Allah Most High says: ﴿Likewise, no messenger came to those before them without their saying, “A magician or a madman!”﴾ [al-Dhāriyāt: 52].
Every messenger was called a magician or a madman, just as the Messenger—peace and blessings be upon him—was called a magician, a liar, a madman, a poet, and a soothsayer. Yet the derogatory labels that enemies attach to Allah’s righteous servants do them no harm. Rather, these only raise them further in rank with Allah, Glorified and Exalted is He; and if they bear them in hope of reward, they are rewarded for doing so.
Allah, Mighty and Majestic, says: ﴿Then they hamstrung her﴾—that is, they slaughtered the she-camel by hamstringing her, an act that brought about their destruction. ﴿So their Lord crushed them﴾ means that He closed in upon them and destroyed them, just as one says, “I filled in the well,” meaning that one covered it over with earth. ﴿For their sin﴾ means because of their sins, for Allah—Glorified and Exalted is He—does not—