When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ passed by al-Hijr, he said, "Do not ask for miraculous signs. The people of Salih asked for them, and the she-camel used to come in through this pass and go out through that pass. They defied the command of their Lord and hamstrung her. She would drink their water one day, and they would drink her milk the next. They hamstrung her, and a mighty cry seized them. Allah destroyed every one of them under the canopy of the sky, except for one man who was within the sacred precinct of Allah
."Someone asked, "Who was he, Messenger of Allah?"He replied, "He was Abu Righal. When he left the sacred precinct, what struck his people struck him as well."
لما مر رسول الله ﷺ بالحجر قال: لا تسألوا الآيات وقد سألها قوم صالح فكانت ترد من هذا الفج وتصدر من هذا الفج فعتوا عن أمر ربهم فعقروها فكانت تشرب ماءهم يوما ويشربون لبنها يوما فعقروها فأخذتهم صيحة أهمد الله عز وجل من تحت أديم السماء منهم إلا رجلا واحدا كان في حرم الله عز وجل قيل: من هو يا رسول الله؟ قال: هو أبو رغال فلما خرج من الحرم، أصابه ما أصاب قومه.
Narrated by Abdul-Razzaq in his Tafsir (915), and from his route Ahmad (14160), and Tabari in his Tafsir (10/296), and Tahawi in Sharh Mushkil (3755), and Ibn Hibban (6197), and Hakim (2/320), all of them via Abdullah bin Uthman bin Khuthaym, from Abu Zubayr, from Jabir bin Abdullah, who related it. Abu Zubayr was corroborated by Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Sabit, from Jabir, with similar wording, in the versions of Tabari and Tahawi. Abdul-Rahman bin Abdullah bin Sabit is a trustworthy and precise memorizer, and with this the isnad of this hadith is confirmed to be sahih.On this subject there is also a report from Abdullah bin Amr, who said, I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, when we went out with him to Taif, we passed by a grave, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "This is the grave of Abu Righal. He used to be protected within this sacred sanctuary, but when he left it, the punishment that struck his people struck him too, in this very place, and he was buried here. The sign of this is that a golden branch was buried with him, so if you were to dig him up, you would find it with him." The people rushed forward and dug out the branch.Narrated by Abu Dawud (3088), whose wording this is, and Tahawi in Sharh Mushkil (3754), both via Wahb bin Jareer, who said, my father narrated to us, saying, I heard Muhammad bin Ishaq narrating from Ismail bin Umaya, from Bujayr bin Abu Bujayr, who said, I heard Abdullah bin Amr relate it. In Tahawi's wording it adds, and he was a man from Thamud.Muhammad bin Ishaq was corroborated by Rawh bin Qasim, who narrated it from Ismail bin Umaya, from Bujayr bin Abu Bujayr, from Abdullah bin Amr, relating it.In its chain is Bujayr bin Abu Bujayr, whom no one deemed trustworthy except Ibn Hibban, and no one narrated from him except Ismail bin Umaya, so he is "acceptable," meaning when corroborated, but otherwise his hadith is weak in reliability. Hafiz said in Taqrib, "Unknown." Hafiz bin Kathir said in Bidayah wa Nihayah (1/318), "Bujayr bin Abu Bujayr is the sole narrator of this, and he is known only through this hadith, and no one narrated from him except Ismail bin Umaya." He also quoted from his teacher Mizzi, who said, "It is possible that he erred in raising it to the Prophet, and that it is actually from the speech of Abdullah bin Amr from his two scrolls."