Chapter 11, Verse 65

7:74; 17:60; 26:156; 54:28; 91:14.

Commentary:

Many legends have been woven round this ناقة (she-camel) of Salih. There is nothing in the Quran to lend support to these fanciful stories. One of these legends, for instance, is that she was miraculously born out of a rock in answer to a prayer of Salih when his people demanded from him a miracle and that she became pregnant at the time of her coming out of the rock, giving birth to a young one immediately after. The Quran, however, nowhere states that there was anything miraculous about her birth. On the contrary, it is clear from 26:154 & 159 that the birth of the she-camel was nothing out of the ordinary and that it was not her birth but the freedom of her movements that was held out as a sign. If the birth of the she-camel had been in any way miraculous, Salih, on the demand of his people for a sign, would have certainly referred them to that extraordinary happening. But, instead, he simply answered that the promised sign would be shown to them, if they interfered with her freedom.

There can be three answers to the question, in what sense was the she-camel a sign:

1. It was a custom in Arabia, as in some other countries as well, that a chief or king would let loose an animal as an emblem of his power and authority and would proclaim that any molestation with its free movements would be severely punished. In accordance with this ancient custom, Salih proclaimed, saying: "This she-camel is for you a sign. If you molest it, you will be held as defying the authority of God and will consequently be visited with Divine punishment."

2. Interference with a beast may mean interference with its rider. To prevent an animal from proceeding on its way amounts to preventing its rider from proceeding on his errand. So when Salih said, let her alone that she may feed in Allah’s earth, he meant that he himself should not be hindered from going about in Allah’s earth for the discharge of his duty of preaching his mission. Salih wanted to go about in the land preaching the word of God, but his people would not allow him to do so. So he told them that the she-camel on which he would go on the mission of preaching the Message of God must be allowed free movement and any interference with her would be regarded as defying God’s purpose and would be met with heavenly punishment.

3. Salih had learned to his sorrow that mixing with his people generally led to disturbance. So in order to avoid contact with them he decided to withhold his animals from the common pasture-lands and selected for himself another grazing ground, which did not belong to these people. Similarly, he abandoned the usual time when his people watered their animals and fixed another time for his own she-camel to drink. After having taken all possible precautions to avoid occasions for disturbance at great personal inconvenience, he told his people that if, even in spite of these precautions, there was any disturbance it would certainly be held as a sacrilegious act on their part which would bring down upon them Divine punishment. This interpretation is supported by the fact that old historical records contain references to a valley named فج الناقة (the valley of the she-camel) which is also mentioned in a book of geography written in 150 B.C. Old Greek historians give its name as Badanata which seems to be a corruption of (Fajjun-Naqqa). The name of this valley indicates that Salih fixed a valley for his she-camel to graze in, separate from the one used by his people, so that she might not mix with their herds and thus disturbance might be avoided.

It might be asked, why should a Prophet of God have behaved like worldly kings and potentates and let loose animals to go and graze where they chose. The present verse embodies an indirect answer to this question, for it is nowhere mentioned in the verse that Salih’s she-camel was to graze in other people’s fields. The verse only says, let her alone that she may feed in Allah’s earth, which obviously refers to land which was not the private property of any individual. So it was no private land in which, Salih’s she-camel was to graze but God’s waste, watered with rain from heaven and indebted to no human labour for its cultivation.

It may further be asked why a whole nation was destroyed for killing a mere she-camel. This objection is also based on a clear misconception, for the cause of Divine punishment was not the killing of the she-camel as such but the fact that the killing of the beast constituted an open challenge to threatening his life and declaring that his people were out to defy God’s authority. So it was not the killing of the she-camel, but the threat to Salih’s own life and the obstruction to his moving about freely in the land with a view to preaching God’s word that brought punishment on his people. See also 7:78.

7:74; 17:60; 26:156; 54:28; 91:14.