The leader of those who believed was Jundʿa ibn ʿAmr ibn Muḥlāh ibn Labīd ibn Jawās. He was one of the community’s chiefs, the last of its nobles to accept Islam. Yet Dhuʾāb ibn ʿAmr ibn Labīd and al-Khubbāb—the keepers of their idols—together with Rabāb ibn Ṣamʿar ibn Jalmis, turned them away. Jundʿa then invited his cousin Shihāb ibn Khalīfah, himself a notable, to embrace Islam. Shihāb was about to respond, but those men forbade him and he inclined toward them instead. On this a Muslim—said to be Muharrish ibn Ghanmah ibn al-Dhamīl—recited:

A band of ʿAmr’s house once called Shihāb
To follow the Prophet’s faith, the path of right;
Thamūd’s proud chief—revered by every clan—
Was on the verge of answering that light.
Had he replied, Ṣāliḥ would stand honoured here,
And none would choose their comrade Dhuʾāb’s way;
But wayward men of Ḥijr, astray once more,
Exchanged their guidance for the rule of wolves.

Because of this Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon him, said to them: “This is Allah’s she-camel, a sign for you” (Hūd 64). Allah attributed her to Himself as an honour and exaltation, just as He says “the House of Allah” and “the servant of Allah.” The words “a sign for you” mean: a proof of the truth of what I have brought. He went on: “So leave her to graze in Allah’s land and do not touch her with harm, lest an imminent punishment seize you” (Hūd 64).

Thus the she-camel remained among them, grazing wherever she pleased on their land. She would come to the well every other day; on her day she drank all its water, so the people drew their water on their day for the following day. Some said they drank their fill from her milk as well. Concerning this Allah said: “She has her share of drink, and you yours, on a known day” (al-Shuʿarāʾ 155).

He also said: “We are sending the she-camel as a trial for them” (al-Qamar 27)—a test to see whether they would believe or disbelieve. Allah knows best what they would do. He therefore commanded: “So watch them, and be patient” until the matter should become clear; and: “Inform them that the water is divided between them, each share attended in turn” (al-Qamar 28).

When this arrangement dragged on, their leaders gathered and unanimously resolved to hamstring the she-camel so they could be rid of her and reclaim their water. Satan adorned their deed in their eyes. Allah the Exalted said: “So they hamstrung the she-camel, rebelled against the command of their Lord, and said, ‘O Ṣāliḥ! Bring upon us what you promise, if you are truly among the messengers’” (al-Aʿrāf 77).

The one who carried out the killing was their chief, Qudār ibn Sālif ibn Jundʿa—a man described as ruddy-skinned, blue-eyed, and light-haired. It was said he was the child of an adulteress, born on Sālif’s bed though his real father was a man named Ṣabiyān. He acted with the full agreement of them all; therefore the deed was attributed to the entire people.