Dabbār; Wednesday, ⦗133⦘ Ajbār; Thursday, Mu’nis; Friday, al-‘Arūbah; and Saturday, Shiyār. They had hamstrung the she-camel on Wednesday. So when they asked him this, Salih said to them, “On the morning of Mu’nis your faces will be yellow; then, on the morning of al-‘Arūbah, your faces will be red; then, on the morning of Shiyār, your faces will be black; and then the punishment will come upon you on Awwal.”

When Salih had told them this, the nine men who had hamstrung the she-camel said, “Come, let us kill Salih. If he is truthful, we shall send him on ahead of us; and if he is lying, we shall have joined him to his she-camel.” So they came to him by night, intending to attack him among his family, but the angels struck them with stones. When they delayed in returning to their companions, the others came to Salih’s dwelling and found that they had been crushed by stones. They said to Salih, “You have killed them!” Then they set out against him, but his clan stood in their way, armed themselves, and said, “By Allah, you shall never kill him. He has promised you that the punishment will descend upon you after three days. If he is truthful, you will only increase your Lord’s anger against you; and if he is lying, then you may do whatever you intend afterward.” So they left them that night.

On Thursday morning, all their faces—young and old, male and female—had turned yellow, as though they had been painted with saffron perfume. They became certain of the punishment and knew that Salih had spoken the truth to them. They sought him in order to kill him, but Salih fled from them until he came to a clan of Thamud known as Banu Ghanm. He lodged with their chief, a man named Nufayl, whose kunyah was Abu Hudb. He was an idolater, but he concealed Salih, and they were unable to reach him.

The next morning, they went to Salih’s followers and tortured them to make them reveal his whereabouts. A man among Salih’s followers, named Mubdi‘ ibn Haram, said, “O Prophet of Allah, they are torturing us so that we will lead them to you. Shall we direct them to you?” He said, “Yes.” So he directed them to him. They came to Abu Hudb and spoke to him about it. He said, “Yes, Salih is with me, but you have no way of reaching him.” They turned away from him and left him, distracted from him by the punishment Allah had sent down upon them.

They began telling one another what they saw in each other’s faces. When evening came, they all cried out, “Indeed, one day of the appointed term has passed!” Then, when they awoke on the second day, their faces were red as though dyed with blood. They cried out, wailed, and wept, knowing that it was the punishment. When evening came, they all cried out, “Indeed, two days of the appointed term have passed, and the punishment has drawn near!” Then, when they awoke on the third day, their faces were black as though coated with pitch. They all cried out, “Indeed, the punishment has come upon you!”

On Saturday night, Salih and those who had submitted with him departed from among them for the Levant, and he settled in Ramla in Palestine. When morning came, the people shrouded and perfumed themselves, then cast themselves upon the ground, turning their eyes now toward the sky and now toward the earth, not knowing from where the punishment would come upon them. When the forenoon of Sunday had grown intense, a cry came upon them from the sky, containing the sound of every thunderbolt and the sound of every thing on earth that has a sound. It tore their hearts apart within their breasts, and not one of them, young or old, remained alive, as Allah Most High says: “And they lay lifeless in their homes.”