Ibn Jarīr—and others among the masters of Qur’anic commentary—relate that two women from Thamūd were behind the plot. One was Ṣadūq, daughter of al-Ḥayā ibn Zuhayr ibn al-Mukhtār, a lady of noble lineage and wealth. She had been married to a man who had embraced Islam, but she left him. She then called her cousin, Miṣraʿ ibn Muharraj ibn al-Muḥayyā, and offered herself in marriage to him if he would hamstring the she-camel.
The second woman was ʿUnayzah bint Ghunaym ibn Mujliz, known as Umm ʿUthmān. She was an aged idolater who had four daughters by her husband, Dhuʾāb ibn ʿAmr—one of the tribal chiefs. She offered those daughters to Qudār ibn Sālif, letting him choose whichever one he wished, on condition that he kill the camel.
Thus the two young men volunteered and began canvassing their clans. Seven other men joined them, making nine in all—the very group Allah refers to when He says: “There were in the city nine men who spread corruption in the land and never set things right” (al-Naml 48).
They worked on the rest of the tribe, portraying the slaughter as a worthy act; the people consented and supported them. The conspirators then lay in ambush. When the she-camel returned from her turn at the well, Miṣraʿ shot an arrow that pierced the bone of her leg. The women now roamed the settlement beating their tambourines, unveiling their faces to urge the men on. Qudār ibn Sālif rushed forward, struck her with his sword, and severed her hamstring. She collapsed, letting out a single, mighty bellow to warn her calf. He then stabbed her in the throat and finished her off. Her calf fled to a high, inaccessible mountain and cried out three times.
ʿAbd al-Razzāq reports from Maʿmar, from someone who heard al-Ḥasan, that the calf said, “My Lord, where is my mother?” It then entered a crevice in the rock and disappeared. Others say the people pursued and killed it as well.
Allah the Exalted says: “They called to their companion, who dared and hamstrung her. So how [severe] were My punishment and My warnings!” (al-Qamar 29–30).
He also says: “When the most wretched of them was roused, and the Messenger of Allah said to them, ‘[Leave] the she-camel of Allah and her drink!’ But they denied him and hamstrung her, so their Lord crushed them for their sin and levelled them, and He does not fear the consequence” (al-Shams 12–15).
Imām Aḥmad narrated: “ʿAbd Allah ibn Numayr told us; Hishām—that is, Ibn ʿUrwah—told us, from his father, from ʿAbd Allah ibn…"