Nine Men in the City

But there were some conspiracies occurring. There was something brewing. There was a group of men out of the people of Thamūd who were planning not only to harm the camel, but to kill it. They were ordered: don't touch it with any harm. These were planning to kill the camel. How many men are these? How many do you expect? How many? Nine. Out of the whole nation of Thamūd, the ones who conspired to kill the camel were nine.

Allah (swt) says: wa kāna fī al-madīnati tisʿatu rahṭin yufsidūna fī al-arḍi wa lā yuṣliḥūn — and there were in the city nine men. So the ayah is: and there were in the city nine men who made mischief in the land, and would not reform. These were nine men who were corrupt. They are the ones who made the conspiracy and planned to kill the camel. It wasn't all of the people of Thamūd; it was only nine. These men agreed — and these were from the leaders of Thamūd. They came together and agreed: we're going to kill the camel.

So they made their move. And when they got next to the camel, they hesitated, because the camel was huge. But one of them, the most evil among them, took his sword, and he hit the camel in its front legs — and that is called ʿaqr. So the camel fell down, and then they attacked it with their swords and killed it.

Allah (swt) says: kadhdhabat Thamūdu bi-ṭaghwāhā, idh inbaʿatha ashqāhā — Thamūd denied their prophet when the most wicked man among them went forth. So out of these nine, only one dared to make the attack on the camel. Idh inbaʿatha ashqāhā: the most evil one, the wicked among them — he's the one who made his attack. Allah (swt) says: fa-ʿaqarūhā — but they killed her. And ʿaqr is when you chop the front legs, so the camel fell down, and then they cut her into pieces.