Abū al-Zubayr narrated from Jābir who said:

“When the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) passed through al-Ḥijr he said, ‘Do not ask for miraculous signs. A people—the people of Ṣāliḥ—asked for them, and the she-camel would come down this ravine and depart by that one. Allah, Exalted is He, says: “But they hamstrung the she-camel and defied the command of their Lord” (al-Aʿrāf 7:77). She drank their water one day and they drank her milk the next. Then they hamstrung her, whereupon a single cry struck them and Allah eradicated every soul beneath the canopy of heaven except one man who happened to be inside the Sanctuary of Allah.’

They asked, ‘Who is he, O Messenger of Allah?’ He replied, ‘He is Abū Righāl. When he left the Sanctuary, the same punishment that befell his people befell him.’” (1)

This ḥadīth fulfils the conditions of Muslim, yet it is not found in any of the six canonical books; and Allah knows best.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq also reported (2): Maʿmar told us, on the authority of Ismāʿīl ibn Umayyah, that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by the grave of Abū Righāl and said, “Do you know whose grave this is?” They replied, “Allah and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is the grave of Abū Righāl, a man from Thamūd who was within the Sacred Precinct, so the Sanctuary shielded him from Allah’s punishment. When he left it, what struck his people struck him. He was buried here, and buried with him was a branch of gold.”

The Companions dismounted, rushed to the grave with their swords, dug it up, and retrieved the golden branch.

ʿAbd al-Razzāq said: Maʿmar related that al-Zuhrī said, “Abū Righāl is the forefather of Thaqīf.” This chain is mursal in this form.

It is also transmitted with a connected chain, as Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq records in the Sīrah: from Ismāʿīl ibn Umayyah, from Bujayr ibn Abī Bujayr, who said:

“I heard ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAmr say: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say, as we travelled with him to Ṭāʾif and passed by a grave, ‘This is the grave of Abū Righāl, the progenitor of Thaqīf. He was one of the people of Thamūd and had been within this Sanctuary, which protected him. When he left it, the retribution that befell his people befell him in this very spot, and he was buried here. A sign of this is that he was buried with a branch of gold; if you exhume him you will find it.’”

The people hurried to the grave and extracted the branch (3).

Abū Dāwūd likewise narrated it (4) through the chain of Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq.

Our shaykh, the ḥāfiẓ Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Mizzī ﵀ (5), remarked: “This ḥadīth is ḥasan and uncommon (ʿazīz).”

I say: Bujayr ibn Abī Bujayr is alone in transmitting it; he is known only for this ḥadīth, and no one narrates from him except Ismāʿīl ibn