[And to Thamūd their brother Ṣāliḥ. He said] … this is the she-camel of God, a sign for you: the she-camel to Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon him, is like the staff to Moses, peace be upon him, and the ass to Jesus, peace be upon him, and the winged steed (burāq) to Muḥammad, peace be upon them. For each prophet and others there is a mount which is that person's very animal soul and which carries his reality which is the human soul and its predominant attribute is the attribute that qualifies that particular animal and thus its [the animal's name] is applied to that individual's [soul]. Thus the one whose soul tends to obedience and compliance out of sheer tractability, able to bear, strong and submissive, then his mount will be a she-camel. Its [the she-camel's] attribution to God [in 'the she-camel of God'] is because it is commanded by Him, specifically His in terms of its obedience to Him and nearness. As regards what is said [in Q. 54:28] to the effect that the water was to be divided between her and them, one day she would drink, and on the other they would drink, this is an allusion to the fact that the source from which they drank was the practical rational faculty, while hers was the considerative rational one. And as regards what has been related that on her drinking day, she would become heavy with milk, so much so that when she was milked they could fill all their trays, this is an allusion to the fact that this person's soul would extract from his primordial universal knowledge, by means of consideration, knowledge that profits those who are deficient in terms of their knowledge of character traits, divine laws and refined manners. Her [the she-camel's] emergence from the rocks represents its manifestation from the body of Ṣāliḥ, peace be upon him. That is the [allegorical] intepretation [of the verse], though it is obligatory to affirm the exoteric meaning. For the manifestation of miracles and the breaking of the habits [of physical nature] is a truth, of which we can deny no aspect. What supports the [allegorical] interpretation is the Prophet's comparison of the one who hamstrung her with the one who slew ʿAlī, peace be upon him, when he said, 'O ʿAlī: do you know who the most wretched of the former generations is?'. He [ʿAlī] said, 'God and His Messenger know best'. He [the Prophet] said, 'The one who hamstrung the she-camel of Ṣāliḥ'. He then said, 'Do you know who the most wretched of the later generations is?', to which ʿAlī replied, 'God and His Messenger know best'. He [the Prophet] said, 'The one who will slay you'. It is also reported that he [the Prophet] said [to ʿAlī], 'The one who will stain this with the blood of this', pointing with his hand to [ʿAlī's] beard and head.