﴿ وَإِلَىٰ ثَمُودَ أَخَاهُمْ صَٰلِحًۭا ۗ قَالَ يَٰقَوْمِ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ مَا لَكُم مِّنْ إِلَٰهٍ غَيْرُهُۥ ۖ قَدْ جَآءَتْكُم بَيِّنَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ هَٰذِهِۦ نَاقَةُ ٱللَّهِ لَكُمْ ءَايَةًۭ ۖ فَذَرُوهَا تَأْكُلْ فِىٓ أَرْضِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَلَا تَمَسُّوهَا بِسُوٓءٍۢ فَيَأْخُذَكُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌۭ ﴾

“AND UNTO [the tribe of] Thamud [We sent] their brother salih He said: "O my people! Worship God alone: you have no deity other than Him. Clear evidence of the truth has now come unto you from your Sustainer. "This she-camel belonging to God shall be a token for you: so leave her alone to pasture on God's earth, and do her no harm, lest grievous chastisement befall you.”

After the destruction of the ‘Ad community, certain righteous people redeemed by God settled in the Hajr, the area in the north west of Arabia. Their race increased and they made immense progress in the fields of agriculture and construction. They constructed palaces in the plains and by chiselling the hills, made stone houses. But later on they fell victim to the evils that generally follow a community’s material development and worldly well-being, i.e. debauchery, obliviousness of the Hereafter, heedlessness about the limits laid down by God, self-conceit and disregard for the greatness of God. At this juncture God raised Salih so that he might warn them of the chastisement of God. But they did not accept the admonition. They were not willing to mend their ways. In the universe, where all things are living in complete obedience to God, they opted to live in arrogance and disobey God: where everything strictly observed the limits set by God, man wanted to lead his life by transgressing His limits. Their transgression created disturbances in the reformed world. Therefore, they were held unfit to inhabit the world. For the purpose of testing the community of Thamud, God assigned a she-camel to them and commanded them not to harm her, or else they would be destroyed. It would have been quite possible for God to appoint a terrifying lion for this purpose. But God appointed a she-camel instead of a lion. The reason for this is that the test of a man’s fear of God is always taken at the level of a ‘she camel’ and not at the level of a ‘lion’. In society there are always some people who are like the camel of God. These are the weak individuals who do not have the material strength which could act as a deterrent to oppression. Through these people, God tests the true faith of His people. And the certificates of Heaven and Hell are given on the basis of the results of these tests.