Thamud
An ancient Arabian tribe remembered in the Quran for rejecting the prophet Salih.
The Thamud (Arabic: ثَمُود, romanized: Ṯamūd) were an ancient tribe or tribal confederation in pre-Islamic Arabia that occupied the northwestern Arabian Peninsula. They are attested in contemporaneous Mesopotamian and Classical inscriptions, as well as Arabic ones from the eighth century BCE, all the way until the fifth century CE, when they served as Roman auxiliaries. They are also later remembered in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry and Islamic-era sources, including the Quran. Prominently, they appear in the Ruwafa inscriptions discovered in a temple constructed circa 165–169 CE in honor of the local deity, ʾlhʾ.
- Prophet sent to them
- Salih (Surah 7:73; Surah 11:61; Surah 27:45)
- Sign given
- A she-camel (Surah 7:73; Surah 17:59)
- Mode of destruction
- Overpowering blast or thunderbolt (Surah 69:5; Surah 41:17)
- Mentioned alongside
- 'Aad, Noah's people, Pharaoh (Surah 9:70; Surah 14:9; Surah 85:18)
Lore & Background
Islamic sources state that the Thamud were an early Arab tribe that had gone extinct in ancient days. Thamud appears twenty-six times in the Quran, where the tribe is presented as an example of an ancient polytheistic people destroyed by God for their rejection of God's prophet Salih. In the Quran, Thamud is associated with a pattern of rebellion and destruction of past groups of people. This is done the most times with Ad, but others as well, like Lot and Noah. When Salih calls Thamud to serve one God, they demand a sign from him. He presents them with a miraculous she-camel. Thamud, unconvinced, injure the camel; for this, God destroys them, except Salih and his followers. This account is embellished with a more detailed background in the Islamic exegetical tradition. Some traditions locate the tribe in northwestern Arabia at Hegra, and in others they are identified as Nabataeans. Islamic genealogy describes the Thamud as among the true Arab tribes, as opposed to the 'Arabicized Arabs'.
Reader's Guide
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Did You Know?
- The Thamud are mentioned in the Annals of the Assyrian king Sargon II (r. 722–705 BCE) as the 'Ta-mu-di'.
- A surviving letter from Nabonidus, a sixth-century BC king of Babylon, mentions a 'Te-mu-da-a Ar-ba-a-a', apparently a Thamudi Arab.
- The Thamud built a temple at al-Ruwāfa in northwestern Saudi Arabia in the 160s CE, with inscriptions composed bilingually in Ancient Greek and Nabataean Aramaic.
- The Thamud served as Roman auxiliary troops, as attested by the Ruwafa inscriptions and the Notitia Dignitatum.
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