Ash-Shams · Makki · ayah 13 of 15

Ash-Shams 91:13

فَقَالَ لَهُمْ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ نَاقَةَ ٱللَّهِ وَسُقْيَـٰهَا

“And the messenger of Allāh [i.e., Ṣāliḥ] said to them, "[Do not harm] the she-camel of Allāh or [prevent her from] her drink."”

Saheeh International

Essence

Two words at the edge, Allah's she-camel and her drink, held years of warning and a whole people's test.

A reflection

The well they still honoured

Suqyā is a share of water, a turn at the well. The Arabs used the root for giving someone drink, for watering a flock and for a field's allotted share from the channel. The commentators explain the arrangement: the she-camel drank from the well one day, and the people the next (26:155).

Centuries later, that drink was still being honoured.

Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim report a stop at al-Ḥijr, the land of Thamūd. The Prophet's ﷺ Companions drew water from its wells. They kneaded their dough with it. The Prophet ﷺ told them to pour the water away and feed the dough to the camels. Then he told them to draw their water only from the well the she-camel used to come to.

Think about what that means. The people of Thamūd were gone. Their houses stood empty. The water of their other wells was now to be poured away. The one well that had been shared with Allah's she-camel was the one he told them to draw from. It had been at the heart of their test.

The she-camel was killed. Her turn at the water was not forgotten. What was connected to Allah's command kept its honour long after those who despised it had vanished.

There is a quiet principle here for our own lives. What we share for Allah's sake does not disappear when it leaves our hands. The portion given to someone else, the time set aside, the turn yielded: these are the wells that stay sweet. What we hoard against His command is what gets poured away.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.