Saleh - peace be upon him
Thamud and the Camel of God
It was some generations after Allah had destroyed the nation of 'Ad. The people of Thamud lived in the valley of al-Hajr in the north of the Arabian peninsula and were quite similar to 'Ad: They were also large and strong, and they built mighty houses in the rocks. They became heedless of God and were ungrateful for the blessings He had bestowed on them. Therefore God sent to them a prophet to remind them and warn them. This was the Prophet Saleh, the second of the Arabian prophets.
Saleh was a righteous man who was a leader in his community. He was chosen by Allah to become a prophet to his people, to remind his people of God, to call them to turn to Him and away from the false idols they were worshipping. He called them to righteousness and to leave their bad ways. But most of the people once again refused to listen to their prophet; only some accepted his message, and the rest turned away.
One day, the people came to Saleh and told him that if you can give us a sign that you are indeed sent by Allah, then we will believe. Saleh agreed, and the people challenged him: They told him to perform a miracle before their eyes. As they gathered they pointed to a mountain and told Saleh to make a she-camel come out of it. They were making up how the she-camel should be: It should be gigantic, they said, and pregnant, and with long red wool, and this and that... They were mocking Saleh, believing what they requested to be impossible. How was their amazement when the boulder split open and this exact camel came out of it! But this is easy for Allah to do.
Upon seeing this miracle that Saleh had given his people just as they had asked, some of them accepted Islam while others remained stubborn disbelievers. This she-camel, the Camel of God, was so big that where the people used to have enough to drink every day, they could now only drink one day and the camel would drink the other day. The camel could drink the entire water supply of the town every two days, and it would produce enough milk for the whole town to drink. That's how enormous it was.
This camel now lived among the people of Thamud and every day that people saw it, more of them accepted Islam as they couldn't deny the great sign which was among them. However, some of the disbelievers now became angry at the camel despite them benefitting from it. They complained that it drank too much, and that it frightened the other animals. Prophet Saleh sternly warned his people not to harm the camel and not to do anything bad to it, or else Allah would bring down a terrible punishment.
It was a group of men who plotted to kill the camel, led by a man named Qadar bin Salif, may Allah curse him. They shot the camel with arrows and attacked it with swords, while others looked on with approval. The camel cried out in pain and to warn its child, and the child, witnessing what was happening, cried out for its mother. After they killed the camel, they slaughtered it and fed the whole town with its meat.
Prophet Saleh was saddened by what his people had done and he told them that the punishment of Allah would come over them in three days, but the people mocked his words. In fact, this group who killed the camel even plotted to kill Saleh and his family, and then act as if they didn't know! Such was their wickedness. They plotted, but God was planning, and God is the best of planners. He saved Saleh and his righteous followers, and they departed to safety. After three days, that which Saleh warned his people about came to pass. The sky filled with lightning and thunder and the earth shook violently. Then Allah sent them a single saihah (shout) which caused them to be utterly destroyed.