136 – ʿAbdullāh narrated to us; ʿUbaydullāh ibn Saʿd narrated to us; my uncle told us; my father narrated to us, from Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq, who said: ⦗90⦘
“They hamstrung the she-camel on a Wednesday. When they asked Ṣāliḥ about what would follow, he told them:
‘Tomorrow you will wake up on the Day of Muʾnis—that is, Thursday—with your faces yellow;
on the Day of al-ʿArūbah—that is, Friday—you will wake up with your faces red;
then on the Day of Shibyān—that is, Saturday—you will wake up with your faces black;
after that, on the Day of Awwal—that is, Sunday—the punishment will descend upon you.’
After he had spoken thus, the nine men who had hamstrung the camel said to one another, ‘Come, let us kill Ṣāliḥ. If he is truthful, we will only hasten his death; if he is lying, we will dispatch him along with his camel.’
They came to his house one night intending to murder him, but the angels struck them with stones, smashing their heads. When they failed to return to their comrades, the latter went to Ṣāliḥ’s dwelling and found them lying dead, their heads crushed by stones.
They said to Ṣāliḥ, ‘You have killed them!’ and moved to seize him. His clan rose in his defence, declaring, ‘By Allah, you shall not reach him. He has already promised you that punishment will befall you. If he is truthful, do not compound your disobedience toward your Lord; and if he is lying, you are still free to do as you wish.’
So they withdrew from him that night. As for those nine men—whom people claim were the ones the angels pelted with stones—they are the very men Allah mentions in the Quran: ‘And there were in the city nine men who spread corruption in the land and would not set things right’ (Q 27:48). He recited further until the words, ‘So those are their houses, desolate because of the wrong they committed; surely in that is a sign for a people who know’ (Q 27:52).
⦗91⦘ They awoke the morning after they had left Ṣāliḥ with their faces yellow. They were now certain of the coming punishment and knew that Ṣāliḥ had spoken the truth.”