Prophet Saleh (A.S.)
Prophet Saleh Alahes Salam was from the later generations of Nuh Alahes Salam’s son Sam. Saleh AS and his people lived in an area known as Al-Hajr, which was located along the trade route from southern Arabia to Syria. Saleh AS was sent to his people as a Prophet when he was sixteen. He remained among them until he was a hundred and twenty years old. They had seventy idols, whom they used to worship. Thamud was a blessed nation concerning their fertile land, financial abundance & prosperity.
Prophet Saleh Alahes salam had given people the invitation of truth and declared ALLAH’s oneness with superiority.
One day Saleh AS said, “People! You have seen that I called each of your gods but not even one of them responded, as you are unable to achieve any benefit (from your gods), I shall pray to Allah and He will surely grant what you will ask.”
The people selected seventy senior leaders. They told Saleh AS that they were ready to present their demand. People of Thamud said “If this group accepts your word, we too shall follow it,”
The group of seventy persons said, “O Saleh! We present a request to you if your Lord accepts” and they asked for a pregnant she-camel. ALLAH blessed them exactly with their demanded sign and also at the same time.
Saleh AS advised Thamud to take care of the she-camel. One day was allotted for the she-camel to drink water and the other for the nation. The she-camel was a living miracle.
This setup was gradually getting heavier for them. They were having problems with drinking the water of the camel and overlooked the blessings of a huge amount of milk she used to give to the nation.
Despite this huge sign of ALLAH still, they did not fulfill the promise of repenting and returning to ALLAH, rather they became harsher to Prophet Saleh alahessalam.
The most tyrant ones of the nation plotted and killed the she-camel without paying any attention to Prophet Saleh’s warning. The nation favored them and didn’t stop. After killing the camel they mocked Prophet AS that he may bring the punishment which he talks about, only if he is a real messenger.
The nation of Thamud met a painful end which is a lesson for everyone who wants to understand. Their thankless ego, not realizing the truth, and bad behavior toward their Prophet led them to the anger of ALLAH. May ALLAH save all of us from the slightest of His anger, aameen.
Imagine the sorrow and sadness of the Prophet who worked hard for them, who preached to them lifelong for so many years, still the nation did not respect him, and neither did the message of ALLAH subhanahu ta’ala.
We have to learn our lesson from this story and all of us have to think again about our behaviors towards our advisors, on all levels.
Without judging them, we may try always to respect them and regard their efforts. May Allah help us and protect from all acts other than pleasing HIM. aameen Ya Rab.
