Ash-Shams

Ash-Shams (Arabic: الشمس, "The Sun") is the 91st surah of the Qur'an, with 15 ayat or verses. It opens with a series of solemn oaths sworn on various astronomical phenomena, the first of which, "by the sun", gives the sura its name, then on the human soul itself. It then describes the fate of Thamud, a formerly prosperous but now extinct Arab tribe. The prophet Saleh urged them to worship God alone, and commanded them in God's name to preserve a certain she-camel; they disobeyed and continued to reject his message; they killed the she-camel and nine of them plotted to kill Saleh and his followers, so God destroyed those who had wronged the people of Thamud and saved Saleh and the righteous believers who had followed him.