The People of al-Ḥijr

Then Allah treats of the namesake of the sūrah:

Wa laqad kadhdhaba aṣḥābu al-ḥijri al-mursalīn: the people of Ḥijr denied their messengers too, and We had given them a great many signs.

Wa kānū yanḥitūna mina al-jibāli buyūtan āminīn: these were the people who used to carve out of huge mountainsides and rocks; they used to carve out their dwelling places. Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ has not been visited, but Petra has, which is of a much later people — the former were before them, a century or two before the Prophet (peace be upon him), the Arabs in Makkah. And seeing the way the Khaznah and all those places are cut into the rock, it is remarkable, with such elaborate craftsmanship; the masons must have been extraordinary. That is what is being spoken of here.

But he says that again they were seized by a scream in the morning, and nothing could avail them. And Allah (swt) had given them a sign: Allah had given them one of these abilities and given them a sign, that from a mountainside of rock He produced a pregnant she-camel, about to give birth, which used to give enormous quantities of milk. And they killed it, rather than benefit from it; they killed it. So remarkable a sign as that — and it was larger than usual, so it was no ordinary she-camel, but larger than usual, certainly unique and extraordinary — and they did not listen. So Allah (swt) is saying that you likewise do not listen: Allah has given you the niʿmah of the Qur'an and the rest.