Suppose, then, that the matter is exactly as I have told you and to which I am summoning you—what excuse will you present before Allah, and what will rescue you in His presence? You are asking me to abandon calling you to obey Him, yet I cannot do so, for that call is obligatory upon me. Were I to relinquish it, none of you, nor anyone else, could shield me from Him or support me. Therefore I shall continue to invite you to Allah alone, without partner, until Allah judges between me and you.
They also said to him:
“Indeed, you are only one of the bewitched.” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 153)
That is, one who has been bewitched—claiming that he no longer knew what he was saying when he called them to devote worship solely to Allah and to cast aside all other deities. This is the view held by the majority: al-musahharīn here means “the bewitched.”
Others have said it means “those who possess a siḥr,” that is, a lung—as though they were saying, “You are merely a human being who has a lung,” i.e., nothing more than ordinary flesh and blood. The first interpretation is clearer, because they then said:
“You are nothing but a human being like us,” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 154)
and added, “So bring a sign if you are truthful.” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 154)
They thus demanded from him a miracle to prove the truth of what he had brought.
He said:
“This is a she-camel; she shall have her turn of drink, and you yours on a specified day. (155) Do not touch her with harm, or the punishment of a terrible day will seize you.” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 155–156)
He also said:
“A clear proof has come to you from your Lord. This is Allah’s she-camel as a sign for you. Leave her to graze in Allah’s land and do not harm her, lest a painful punishment overtake you.” (al-Aʿrāf 73)
And the Exalted One said: “We gave Thamūd the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged themselves on her account.” (al-Isrāʾ 59)
The exegetes relate that the people of Thamūd once gathered in their assembly hall. Allah’s Messenger Ṣāliḥ came to them, called them to Allah, reminded them, warned them, admonished them, and instructed them. They said to him, “If you can bring forth for us from this rock”—and they pointed to a boulder nearby—“a she-camel of such-and-such description,” and they listed the traits they wanted, obstinately insisting that she be a tall she-camel in her tenth month of pregnancy, with particular features.
The Prophet Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon him, said, “If I grant you what you have requested, exactly as you have asked, will you believe in the message I have brought and affirm that I have been sent?” They replied, “Yes.” He then took from them their pledges and covenants, went to his place of prayer, performed whatever prayer Allah willed, and appealed to his Lord to grant what they had demanded. Allah commanded that rock to split, and out of it came a tremendous, ten-month-pregnant she-camel, precisely in the form they had specified.
When they saw her, they beheld an awesome sight—tremendous, overwhelming power, an incontrovertible proof and a radiant sign. Many among them believed, yet most of them persisted in their disbelief, misguidance, and stubbornness. Concerning this Allah said, “But they wronged themselves on her account,” (al-Isrāʾ 59) meaning that they rejected her and, because of her, failed to follow the truth—the majority of them did so.