Mustadrak al-Hakim — Hadith 4113

It is narrated from Shahr bin Hawshab (may Allah have mercy on him) that he said: We said to Sayyiduna Amr bin Kharijah (may Allah be pleased with him): Narrate to us the hadith of Thamud. So he said: I will tell you about Thamud from the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him): "Thamud were the people of Salih (peace be upon him). Allah Almighty granted them long lives in this world, to the point that when one of them built a house of clay, it would collapse (within his lifetime) while the man himself was still alive. When they saw this, they began to carve houses out of the mountains with pride; they hewed them, cut them and hollowed them out from inside, making spacious dwellings. They lived in great abundance and prosperity in their livelihood. They said: 'O Salih, pray to your Lord for us that He bring forth for us a sign by which we may know that you are the Messenger of Allah.' So Salih (peace be upon him) prayed to his Lord, and Allah brought forth a she-camel for them. A day was fixed for her drinking water, and a known day was fixed for their drinking. So when it was the she-camel's day to drink, they would leave her and the water alone and milk her, and fill every vessel, waterskin and container of theirs. And when it was their day to drink, they would keep the she-camel away from the water, so she would not drink any of it, and they would fill every vessel, waterskin and container of theirs with water. Allah Almighty revealed to Salih (peace be upon him): 'Your people will soon hamstring your she-camel.' So he told his people, and they said: 'We would never do that.' Salih (peace be upon him) said: 'If you do not hamstring her, it is likely that a child will be born among you who will hamstring her.' They asked: 'What is the sign of that child? By Allah, we will kill him as soon as we find him.' He said: 'He will be a boy of ruddy-fair complexion, blue eyes and reddish hair.' He said: In the city there were two highly honoured and powerful old men; one of them had a son for whom he found no match in marriage, and the other had a daughter for whom no suitable match could be found. The two of them met in a gathering, and one of them said to the other: 'What is keeping you from marrying off your son?' He said: 'I cannot find a suitable match for him.' The other said: 'My daughter is a suitable match for him, and I will marry her to him.' So he married her to him, and that very child was born to them. In the city there was a band of eight men who spread corruption in the land and did not set things right. Salih (peace be upon him) said to them: 'It will be a child from among you who hamstrings her.' So they appointed eight midwives from the town and appointed police (guards) along with them. They would go around the town, and whenever they found a woman in labour, they would look at the child she bore. If it was a boy, they would turn him over and examine what he was like, and if it was a girl, they would turn away from her (pay no attention). So when they found that child, the women cried out and said: 'This is the one whom the Messenger of Allah, Salih, meant.' The police wanted to seize him, but his two grandfathers came between them and the child and said: 'If Salih wants this one, we will kill him (Salih).' He was an evil child, and he would grow in a day as much as another child grows in a week, and in a week as much as another grows in a month, and in a month as much as another grows in a year. Then the eight men who spread corruption in the land and those two old men gathered and said: 'We will make this boy our chief because of his standing and the nobility of his grandfathers.' Thus they became nine (9) in all. Salih (peace be upon him) did not sleep with them in the town; he would spend the night in the wilderness in a mosque which was called the Mosque of Salih. When morning came he would come to them and admonish and exhort them, and when evening came he would go out to the mosque and spend the night there." The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And when they intended to plot against Salih (peace be upon him), they went until they came to a cave (tunnel) on Salih's path. Eight of them hid in it and said: 'When he comes out upon us, we will kill him, then go to his family and destroy them by night.' So Allah Almighty commanded the earth, and it was levelled over them (that is, they were swallowed into the earth). Then they (the rest) gathered and went towards the she-camel, who was standing at her water trough. The most wretched of them said to one man: 'Go to her and hamstring her.' He went to her, but the deed seemed too enormous to him and he gave up the intention. Then he sent another, and it seemed too enormous to him as well. Whatever man he sent, the matter of her seemed enormous and terrifying to him, until he himself advanced towards her, strutting arrogantly, and he hamstrung the she-camel, so that she fell down writhing. Then one of them came to Salih (peace be upon him) and said: 'Save the she-camel, she has been hamstrung.' He came, and the people came out to meet him and began apologising to him: 'O Prophet of Allah, such-and-such a person hamstrung her; we bear no blame in it.' He said: 'See if you can catch her calf. If you catch it, perhaps Allah Almighty will lift the punishment from you.' So they went out searching for it. When the calf saw its mother writhing, it came to a small mountain called al-Qarah and climbed it. They went to catch it, but Allah Almighty revealed to the mountain, and it grew so tall towards the sky that even the birds could not reach it. The narrator says: And Salih (peace be upon him) entered the town. When the calf saw him, it wept until its tears flowed, then it faced Salih (peace be upon him) and grunted once, then grunted a second time, then grunted a third time. So Salih (peace be upon him) said: 'For each grunt the term is one day: "Enjoy yourselves in your homes for three days; that is a promise that will not be belied." [Surah Hud: 65] Listen! The sign of the punishment is that on the first day, in the morning, their faces will become yellow; on the second day they will become red; and on the third day they will become black.' So when morning came, their faces were as though yellow dye had been smeared on them, the old and the young among them, the men and the women among them. When evening came, they all cried out together: 'Listen! One day of the respite has passed, and the punishment is upon you.' Then when morning came on the second day, their faces were red as though they had been dyed with blood. So they cried out, raised an uproar and wept, and they knew that this was the punishment. When evening came, they all cried out together: 'Listen! Two days of the respite have passed, and the punishment is upon you.' Then when morning came on the third day, their faces were black as though tar (pitch) had been smeared on them. So they all cried out together: 'Listen! The punishment is upon you.' So they wrapped themselves in shrouds and applied hanut (the fragrance applied to the dead), and their hanut was aloes and myrrh (bitter herbs), and their shrouds were of leather. Then they threw themselves on the ground, now raising their eyes to the sky and now to the earth, not knowing from where the punishment would come upon them, whether from above them from the sky or from beneath their feet from the earth, gripped by intense fear and panic. Then when morning came on the fourth day, a blast came upon them from the sky in which was the sound of every thunderbolt and the sound of everything on earth that makes a sound. By it their hearts were torn apart in their chests, and by morning they lay (dead) fallen on their faces in their homes."
This is a comprehensive hadith containing the account of the destruction of the people of Thamud, in the narration of which Shahr bin Hawshab is alone, and it has no chain other than his. We could not dispense with recording it, and it has a brief supporting narration with a sahih (authentic) chain which indicates the soundness of this long hadith, and it is on the condition of Imam Muslim.