The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 3) — Page 159
PT. 12 HŪD 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, Ṣāliḥ, 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, Ṣāliḥ 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 Ṣāliḥ 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. Ṣāliḥ 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 CH. 11 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. Ṣāliḥ 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 (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-Nāqqa). The name of this valley indicates that Ṣāliḥ 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. 1367 It might be asked, why should a