The story of Ashabur Rass

The People Who Buried the Prophet in a Stone Well

The Qur’an mentions Ashabur Rass or the Rass twice. First in the letter Al-Furqan, “And (We destroyed) the people of ‘Ad and Samud and the people of Rass and many (more) generations among these peoples. And We made for each of them a parable and indeed We have destroyed each of them to the uttermost destruction.” (QS. Al-Furqan, 25: 38-39).

25:38 and surah Qaf verse 12. “Before they denied (also) the people of Noah and the people of Rass and Thamud.”

Rass is literally a well filled with rocks. They are named so (Ashabul Al-Rass) because they have immersed their prophet into the well. The immersed prophet is a prophet after Prophet Sulayman.

As said by Ibn Abbas RA: “Rass is a lake that is in the State of Azerbajin”. And the residents of Rass are Qaryah experts from one of the Thamud villages. Rass is a lake where the water has dried up, then it is used as the name of a people, namely the Rass. They worshiped statues, then Allah sent the Prophet Shoaib AS to them.

Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Al-Hasan Al-Naqqasy has said: “The people of Rass have a lake that gives them water to drink and fertilizes their lands. And there was a king who was just and good in character so that when the king died, they all loved him very much. After a few days had passed, there was a devil disguised as the king in front of them by saying, “I am not dead yet, but I cannot be seen by all of you so I see your king (with the intention of making a statue in the form of the king).”