He said: The Messenger of Allah ﷺ encamped with the people, during the year of Tabūk, at al-Ḥijr by the dwellings of Thamūd. The people drew water from the wells from which Thamūd used to drink; they kneaded their dough and set the cooking-pots on the fire with meat. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered them to spill out the contents of the pots and to feed the dough to the camels. He then moved them on until he halted them at the well from which the She-Camel used to drink, and he forbade them to enter the dwellings of the people who had been punished, saying:

“I fear that there may befall you what befell them, so do not enter upon them.”

This ḥadīth, through this chain, fulfils the conditions of authenticity required by the two Ṣaḥīḥs, yet they did not include it. Al-Bukhārī and Muslim (1), however, did transmit it through Anas ibn ʿIyāḍ Abū Ḍamrah, from ʿUbayd Allāh ibn ʿUmar, from Nāfiʿ, from Ibn ʿUmar.

Al-Bukhārī said: Usāmah also reported it from Nāfiʿ.

Muslim (2) likewise narrated it through Shuʿayb ibn Isḥāq, from ʿUbayd Allāh, from Nāfiʿ.

Imām Aḥmad (3) said: ʿAbd al-Razzāq related to us; Maʿmar related to us, from ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Khuthaym, from Abū al-Zubayr, from Jābir, who said:

When the Prophet ﷺ passed by al-Ḥijr he said,

“Do not ask for (miraculous) signs. The people of Ṣāliḥ asked for a sign: the She-Camel used to come down this pass and leave by that pass. They rebelled against the command of their Lord and hamstrung her. She would drink their water one day and they would drink her milk the next, then they hamstrung her, so a Cry seized them and Allah caused every soul beneath the canopy of heaven to perish—except for one man who was within the Sacred Precinct.”

They asked, “Who was he, O Messenger of Allah?”

He replied, “Abū Righāl. When he left the Sacred Precinct the same fate overtook him that had overtaken his people.”

Its chain is sound, yet the two Ṣaḥīḥs did not record it.

Imām Aḥmad (4) also said: Yazīd ibn Hārūn narrated to us; al-Masʿūdī informed us; from Ismāʿīl ibn Awsat, from Muḥammad ibn Abī Kabshah al-Anmārī, from his father, who said:

During the Expedition of Tabūk the people hastened to the dwellings of al-Ḥijr and entered them. This reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so a herald proclaimed among the people: “Prayer in congregation!”

I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ while he was holding the reins of his camel and saying,

“Why are you entering upon a people upon whom Allah’s anger descended?”

One of them called out, “We are amazed at them, O Messenger of Allah.”

He replied, “Shall I not tell you of something more amazing than that? A man from among yourselves who informs you of what came before you and what will come after you. So remain upright and keep to the middle course, for Allah cares little about punishing you; yet a people will come who will be unable to ward off anything from themselves.”

Its chain is fair, and the two Ṣaḥīḥs did not include it.

Yūnus ibn Bukayr (5) also narrated—on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq—he told me from ʿAbd Allāh ibn Abī Bakr ibn Ḥazm, from al-ʿAbbās ibn Sahl ibn Saʿd al-Sāʿidī (or from al-ʿAbbās [from Sahl] ibn Saʿd; the doubt is mine) that when the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed