Muhammad Asad:Translation:
And then they cruelly slaughtered the she-camel 61 and turned with disdain from their Sustainer's commandment, and said: "O Salih! Bring about that [punishment] with which thou hast threatened us, if thou art truly one of God's message bearers!"
61 The verb `aqara primarily denotes "he hamstrung [an animal]"-i.e., before slaughtering it, so that it might not run away. This barbarous custom was widely practiced in pre-Islamic Arabia , so that `aqr ("hamstringing") gradually became synonymous with slaughtering in a cruel manner (Razi; see also Lane V, 2107 f.).