Thamud: Difference between revisions

'''Thamūd''' (Arabic: {{ia|ثَمود}}) was an Arabian tribe that suffered from the divine punishment after refusing to accept the call of the prophet [[Salih (a)]]. They are referred to in the [[Qur'an]] as [[polytheist]]s and as being skillful in making stone houses. God sent Salih (a) to guide them to the right path. They killed the [[miracle]] of their [[prophet]], that is, the [[She-Camel of Salih (a)]], and then they were stricken with the divine punishment. The story of the Thamud tribe does not appear in the [[Torah]], but archeological findings confirm their existence in northern regions of the Arabian Peninsula.

Some people take “Thamud” to be an Arabic word meaning little water, and others take it to be a non-Arabic word. “Thamud” was a tribe which was named after its main ancestor. The word occurred 26 times in the Qur'an. Some [[exegetes]] of the Qur'an take “Ashab al-Hijr” (companions of Hijr) in the verse 80 of [[Sura al-Hijr]] to refer to Thamud, taking “Hijr” to refer to the place where they lived.

The Qur'an has not referred to the period in which people of Thamud lived, but they are introduced as successors of the [[People of 'Ad]]. In mentioning past people and [[prophets]], the Qur'an has narrated the story of Thamud after People of 'Ad. Some people have referred to people of Thamud as “'Ad al-Akhira” (the later 'Ad). Some people believe that the Quranic order implies the chronological order as well. On Azarnush’s account, the Thamud are mentioned in ancient sources as having lived between the 8th century BC and the 2nd century. However, according to sources of Islamic history, the period of Salih’s [[prophethood]] was prior to [[Abraham]]’s, and people of 'Ad and Thamud were 500 years apart. In some sources, people of Thamud are said to be from the progeny of [[Shem]] the son of the prophet [[Nuh]].

People of Thamud reportedly lived in Hijr at the coast of the Red Sea near Wadi l-Qura which was located on the way from [[Hijaz]] to [[al-Sham]]. According to a [[hadith]], when the army of Islam arrived in Hijr on its way from [[Medina]] to [[Tabuk]], [[the Prophet (s)]] ordered people not to drink from its water and to pass the region while crying lest they be stricken with the same punishments with which the people of Thamud were stricken. Jawad 'Ali maintains that people of Thamud lived in the heights of today’s Hijaz and [[Jordan]]. The Qur'an has not specified the place where people of Thamud lived.

According to Quranic verses, people of Thamud were [[polytheist]]s, so God sent [[Salih (a)]] in order to guide them to the path of [[monotheism]]. According to a hadith from [[Imam al-Baqir (a)]], they worshiped a large rock, gathered around it once a year, and made sacrifices for it. A portrait of the [[Christ]] on an inscription ascribed to Thamud (dating back to 267) is said to be evidence for the prevalence of Christianity in their period.

===Reaction to Salih’s Call to Monotheism===

People of Thamud asked Salih to present a miracle to prove his claims. According to hadiths, they asked him to bring out a she-camel from inside a mountain. God realized their request and a she-camel came out of the mountain. [[Salih (a)]] warned them not to harm the she-camel, but they slaughtered her. In Islamic sources, the animal is known as the [[She-Camel of Salih]]. Some Shiite exegetes of the [[Qur'an]] have appealed to a hadith from the Prophet (s) to analogize the slaughterer of the She-Camel of Salih (“the wretched of the former people”) with the killer of [[Imam 'Ali (a)]] (“the wretched of [[the late people]]”).

With respect to Salih’s call, people of Thamud were divided into two or three groups; most of them rejected his call, but a few people followed him.

[[File:Thamud's giant body.jpg|260px|thumbnail|right|The holy Quran also speaks about the [[people of ‘Ad]] and Thamud. They were huge and powerful, and could uproot trees with their hands.]]

When people of Thamud killed the She-Camel of Salih (a), Salih told them that they were going to be punished by God within three days. On some accounts, on the first day, their faces turned yellow; on the second day, their faces turned red; and on the third day, their faces turned black, and then they were killed by the divine punishment. The Qur'an has variously referred to the punishment of the people of Thamud as “thunderbolt” (“sa'iqa”), “shriek” (“sayha”), and “earthquake” (“rajfa”). Some authors take these to refer to different stages of their punishment.

The few survivors of the people of Thamud allegedly migrated to [[Mecca]] or Ramla in [[Palestine]]. Some researchers believe that the attribution of a number of places in Palestine to the prophet Salih (a) is evidence that some survivors of Thamud lived there. [[Abu l-Faraj Isfahani]] holds that the Thaqif tribe was a progeny of the people of Thamud, but [[Ibn Khaldun]] has cast doubts on the accuracy of this attribution. Some other people take Banu Hilal to be a progeny of the people of Thamud.

 

A lot of petroglyphs, epigraphy, and buildings have been found in Mount Athalith and other places in the Arabian Peninsula which are speculated to be related to people of Thamud. The following names appear in inscription attributed to them: “Radw” or “Radi”—well-known idols of northern Arabia—, “Sulm”—an idol in Tayma'—and other idols of the region.

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[[Category:Tribes of Arabia]]