When the Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) was at al-Hijr, he said:

Ask not for signs, for the people of Salih asked for them. She (the she-camel) came to water through this pass, returned through that pass, and drank (all) their water on the days she came.[7] They opposed the command of their Lord and hamstrung her. She used to drink their water one day and they her milk the next. They hamstrung her and were seized by the cry. God struck down every one of them under the sky, except for one man who was at the time in the sanctuary (of Mecca).They asked, “Who was he, O Messenger of God?” He answered, “Abu Rughal. Once he left the sanctuary, he was overtaken by that which had stricken them down.”

When the Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) went on the Taif expedition and passed by Abu Rughal’s grave, he asked, “Do you know whose grave this is?” They replied, “God and His Messenger know best.” He said, “This is the grave of Abu Rughal, a man from Thamud who was in the sanctuary. God’s sanctuary protected him from God’s torment. Once he left it, he was struck down by that which had stricken his people down. He was buried here and buried with him was a golden branch.” They dug for the branch with their swords until they extracted it.[8]

And Salih turned away from them and said, “O my people! I delivered my Lord’s message to you and counseled you, but you love not sincere counselors.” (7:79) Salih (may peace be upon him), his family and followers left the doomed area just before God’s punishment befell the people of Thamud. We have no firm textual evidence as to where Salih (may peace be upon him) and his followers went, but their style of rock carving survived for millennia among their successors in the areas where the Nabateans, the Dedanites, the Lihyanites and others dwelled.

MADA’IN SALIH

Modern day al-Hijr is a vast plain interspersed with hills, which, from the outside, look like carved houses or tombs. These structures bears enough resemblance to the description of theThamud dwellings in the Qur’an that several scholars have claimed that they are the houses of Thamud. The Qur’an says, And remember how he made you to surpass ‘A d and lodged you in the land. You built mansions on the plains and hewed the hills into houses. (7:74)

The Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) always pointed out to his Companions the locations connected with previous messengers. He informed them that Mount Uhud in Medina was on the gate of Paradise, where as Mount ‘Ayr was on the gate of Hell.[9] In Mina, he informed them that 70 prophets had prayed in the mosque of al-Khayf [10] and that 70 were buried there. When the Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) was passing through the Valley of al-Rawha’, he asked his Companions, “Do you know what this mountain is called?” They answered, “God and His Messenger know better.” He said, “This is Hamt. This is one of the mountains of Paradise. O God, bless it and bless its people.” He said of the valley, “This is Sajasij, a valley of Paradise.” Then he said of the place where he prayed in the valley and which he called a mosque, that 70 prophets had traveled before him through the Valley of al-Rawha’ and had prayed in the mosque [11] and that Moses and a large group of Israelites pas-sed through the same valley on their way to Mecca, and that Jesus would pass through the same valley during his second coming.[12] When the Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) was in ‘Usfan, he asked, “O Abu Bakr, which valley is this?” Upon being told that it was ‘Usfan, he said that prophets Hud and Salih (may peace be upon them) had passed there on their camels heading for Mecca.[13] He also told them the story of Abu Rughal. [14]

Had the Prophet (may God’s blessings and peace be upon him) thought that the rock-carved structures in al-Hijr were those of Thamud, he would have pointed them out. The fact that he showed them the well where the she-camel drank and confirmed that the people of Thamud had dwelled in the area but made no comment about the tombs indicates that he knew the rock structures were not related to any of the previous prophets.

What the visitor sees there today are hewn hills, no mansions remain. The facades vary in height and in the richness of their decorations. Inside all except one, however, all that has been found are small rooms about three to four square meters in size, some of which have shelves carved into the rock walls. Only one chamber that has been found in the hills was large enough to house council. Nothing but solid rock lies behind the rest of the facades. There is no possibility that these were used as dwellings. In fact, they are now recognized as Nabatean tombs, resembling the earlier ones such as those seen in Petra, Jordan, not the later, more elaborately carved Greco-Roman facades. The only relation that these rock structures have to Thamud is that they were from a later period in the same geographical location.