Thamud

Thamud was an ancient people who lived in northern Arabia in a land called al-Hijr, carving their houses into the rock. God sent them the prophet Salih; a few believed him, most denied him, and they perished. Their carved homes — Madain Salih — still stand today.

Thamud was an old Arabian people who lived in al-Hijr and the northern Hijaz, building homes carved into the rocky mountains known today as Madain Salih. The Qur'an recounts that God sent them Salih, one of their own, calling them to worship Him alone; the weak believed while the proud denied, and they hamstrung the she-camel given to them as a sign, so they were destroyed by a blast or a shaking in the tellings. Arab historians link Thamud with Iram and the Amaliq, and the sources recall their remains as known into the Prophet ﷺ's time — the army of Tabuk passed their dwellings and was told not to enter the homes of the destroyed except in humility.

Thamud was a vanished Arabian people who settled al-Hijr and the northern Hijaz — inscriptions and archaeology place them roughly between 700 BCE and 400 CE — and al-Mas'udi counts them among the descendants of Thamud ibn Abir ibn Iram ibn Sam ibn Nuh. Their Qur'anic story: God sent them their brother Salih calling them to worship Him alone, splitting them into the humble who believed and the proud who denied; a band of them hamstrung the she-camel of God they had demanded as a sign, and the Cry (or the quake, in al-A'raf) destroyed them all. The histories recall Thamud's remains as famous to the Arabs, visited for their carved dwellings; al-Bukhari records the Prophet ﷺ passing them on the Tabuk march, ordering the army to enter only weeping and to shun their water. Their ruins at Madain Salih are today a Saudi heritage city, inscribed in 2008 as the kingdom's first World Heritage site.