Ash-Shu'ara 26:153

When a prophet arises in a community, that community is not necessarily atheistic or irreligious. It is, in fact, a religious community in the fullest sense, but, the religion of its members is the religion of their forefathers, and what the prophet presents is God’s religion. Those who consider the ways of their forefathers sacrosanct and stick to them, cannot understand the importance of other ways, even if those are presented by the prophet. To Salih’s community (i.e. the Thamud), deviation from their forefathers’ ways was so intolerable that they called Salih a madman. This struggle went on for a long time. Ultimately, they demanded that he show them a miracle. A miracle did appear, as commanded by God Almighty; it was both a miracle and the instrument of divine justice. It appeared in the form of a she-camel which had come into existence in other than the normal manner, i.e. in a miraculous way. Salih said that this was a she-camel of God. It would wander in their fields and gardens freely, and the water from the pond would be reserved for it exclusively on one day. The community tolerated the she-camel for a few days and then an arrogant man killed it. Soon thereafter the entire community was wiped out by a severe earthquake. The crime of killing the she-camel was committed by a single person of the community, but the Quran uses the plural saying, ‘They hamstrung her.’ The reason for this is that at the time of killing, the people of the community did not prevent the person concerned from doing the deed, nor did they condemn him afterwards. Everyone spoke in his support and opposed Salih. While the killer had personally committed the crime, the rest of the people were his accomplices in that crime in their hearts and with their tongues. Therefore, in the eyes of God, all of them stood guilty.