فَعَقَرُوا۟ ٱلنَّاقَةَ وَعَتَوْا۟ عَنْ أَمْرِ رَبِّهِمْ وَقَالُوا۟ يَـٰصَـٰلِحُ ٱئْتِنَا بِمَا تَعِدُنَآ إِن كُنتَ مِنَ ٱلْمُرْسَلِينَ Qur’an Al-A'raf (7:77)FaAAaqaroo a l nn a qata waAAataw AAan amri rabbihim waq a loo y a sa li h u itin a bim a taAAidun a in kunta mina almursaleen a
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.).