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The story of Hud (peace be upon him) in the Quran and the Islamic tradition: verses, hadiths and the views of the exegetes, faithfully translated from Arabic.
Updated on 06 September 2026 at 3:41 AM
Hud (peace be upon him) is Hud ibn Shalikh ibn Arfakhshad ibn Sam ibn Nuh. It is said: Hud is Eber ('Abir) ibn Shalikh ibn Sam ibn Nuh; and it is said: Hud ibn Abdallah ibn Rabi' ibn al-Jaroud ibn 'Ad ibn 'Aws ibn Iram ibn Sam ibn Nuh, as Ibn Jarir related. The 'Ad were Arabs inhabiting al-Ahqaf, which are the mountains of sand, in the land of ash-Shihr; their valley was named Mughith. They most often dwelt in tents with thick pillars.
« Have you not seen what your Lord did with 'Ad, of Iram of the pillars, the like of which was not created in the lands »
Surat al-Fajr, 6-8
that is, the tribe of 'Ad of Iram. They are the first 'Ad; as for the second 'Ad, they are later, as its clarification will come in its place. As for the first 'Ad, they are the 'Ad of Iram of the pillars, whose like was not created in the lands, in the sense of the tribe, in the sense of the pillars. The first meaning is the correct one, as we have established in the Tafsir.
Some have claimed that Iram was a city that roamed the earth, at times in Cham, at times in the Yemen, at times in the Hijaz, at times elsewhere: that is straying a very long distance. He said what there is no indication for, no proof to rest upon, no foundation to lean on.
It is related in the Sahih of Ibn Hibban: among the prophets, four were Arabs: Hud, Salih, Shu'ayb and your prophet, O Abu Dharr. Hud was the first to speak Arabic. Wahb ibn Munabbih claimed that his father was the first to speak it. Another said the first to speak it was Nuh. And it is said: Adam, and that is the most probable: other than that, and Allah knows best.
As for the pure Arabs (al-'Ariba), they are numerous tribes among which: 'Ad, Thamud, Jurhum, Tasm, Jadis, Umaim, Madian, Imliq, Abil, Jasim, Qahtan and Bani Yaqtan, and others. As for the Arabized Arabs (al-Musta'riba), they are of the descendants of Isma'il ibn Ibrahim al-Khalil. Isma'il ibn Ibrahim was the first to speak the eloquent and penetrating Arabic, having taken the speech of the Arabs, Jurhum, who had settled near his mother Hajar at the sacred precinct, as its clarification will come in its place, if Allah the Most High wills; but Allah made him speak it at the highest degree of eloquence and clarity, and thus spoke the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
The point is that the 'Ad, the first 'Ad, were the first, after the flood, to worship idols. Their idols were three: Sadd, Samud and Hara. Allah therefore sent among them their brother Hud (peace be upon him), who called them to Allah, as the Most High said, after the mention of the people of Nuh:
« And to 'Ad, their brother Hud. He said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Will you not then fear? Said the assembly of his people who disbelieved: we see you in folly, and we think you are of the liars.
He said: O my people, there is no folly in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds. I convey to you the messages of my Lord, and I am to you a trustworthy adviser. Do you wonder that an admonition from your Lord has come to you through a man from among you, to warn you? And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nuh, and increased you in creation in stature.
So remember the favors of Allah, that you may succeed. They said: have you come to us that we may worship Allah alone and forsake what our fathers used to worship? Then bring us what you promise us, if you are of the truthful. He said: filth and anger have fallen upon you from your Lord.
Do you dispute with me over names you have named, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority? Then wait: I am with you of those who wait. So We saved him and those with him by a mercy from Us, and We cut off the roots of those who denied Our signs, and they were not believers. »
Surat al-A'raf, 65-72
« And to 'Ad, their brother Hud. He said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. You only invent. O my people, I ask of you no reward for it: my reward is only upon the One who created me.
Will you not then understand? O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord, then return to Him: He will send the sky upon you in abundant showers, and add strength to your strength. And do not turn away as criminals. They said: O Hud, you have not brought us clear proof, and we will not forsake our gods for your word, and we are not believers in you.
We only say that some of our gods have struck you with evil. He said: I call Allah to witness, and bear you witness, that I am innocent of what you associate besides Him. So scheme against me all together, and give me no respite. I have placed my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord: there is no creature but He holds its forelock.
My Lord is on a straight path. And if you turn away, I have conveyed to you that with which I was sent to you, and my Lord will make a people succeed you other than you, and you will not harm Him at all: my Lord is Guardian over all things. And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and We saved them from a harsh punishment. And such were the 'Ad: they denied the signs of their Lord, disobeyed His messengers, and followed the command of every obstinate tyrant.
And they were followed, in this world, by a curse, and on the Day of Resurrection. Unquestionably, the 'Ad disbelieved in their Lord: so away with 'Ad, the people of Hud! »
Surat Hud, 50-60
« The believers have succeeded. » Then, after the story of the people of Nuh: « Then We raised up after them another generation. We sent among them a messenger from themselves: worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Will you not then fear?
And said the assembly of his people who disbelieved and denied the meeting of the Hereafter, and to whom We had given luxury in the life of this world: this is only a human being like you, who eats of what you eat of it and drinks of what you drink. If you obey a human being like yourselves, you will indeed be losers. Does he promise you that when you have died and become dust and bones you will be brought out? Far away, far away is what you are promised.
There is only our life of this world: we die and live, and we will not be resurrected. He is only a man who has invented a lie against Allah, and we are not believers in him. He said: my Lord, aid me, because they deny me. He said: in a little while, they will surely rise up in regret.
The cry seized them in justice, and We made them as stubble: so away with the wrongdoing people. »
Surat al-Mu'minun, 31-41
« The 'Ad denied the messengers, when their brother Hud said to them: will you not fear? I am to you a trustworthy messenger: so fear Allah and obey me. I ask of you no reward for it: my reward is only upon the Lord of the worlds. Do you build on every elevation a sign, playing?
And you take strongholds, that you may live forever? And when you seize, you seize as tyrants. So fear Allah and obey me. And fear Him who aided you with what you know, who aided you with livestock and children and gardens and springs.
I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day. They said: it is all the same to us, whether you advise or are not of the advisors. This is only the habit of the ancients, and we will not be punished. So they denied him, and We destroyed them.
There is in that a sign, and most of them were not believers. And your Lord is surely the Mighty, the Merciful. »
Surat ash-Shu'ara, 123-140
As for the 'Ad, they were arrogant in the earth without right and said: who is stronger than us? Have they not seen that Allah, who created them, is stronger than them in might? And they used to deny Our signs. So We sent upon them a screaming wind, in days of misfortune, to make them taste the punishment of disgrace in the life of this world, and the punishment of the Hereafter is more disgracing, and they will not be helped.
« And remember the brother of 'Ad, when he warned his people at al-Ahqaf, and warners had already passed before him and after him: worship none but Allah; I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day. They said: have you come to us to turn us away from our gods? Then bring us what you promise us, if you are of the truthful. He said: the knowledge is only with Allah, and I convey to you that with which I was sent, but I see you a people who are ignorant.
Then, when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: this is a cloud bringing us rain. No, it is what you were asking to hasten: a wind containing a painful punishment, destroying everything by the command of its Lord. So by morning nothing was to be seen but their dwellings: thus do We recompense the criminal people. »
Surat al-Ahqaf, 21-25
And:
« And to the 'Ad, when We sent upon them the barren wind, which left nothing of what it came upon but made it like decayed husks. »
Surat adh-Dhariyat, 41-42
« He destroyed the first 'Ad and Thamud, leaving none, and the people of Nuh before: they were the most unjust and most rebellious, and the overturned cities, He brought down upon them. Covered them what covered them. So which of the favors of your Lord do you doubt? »
Surat an-Najm, 50-53
« The 'Ad denied: how then was My punishment and My warning? We sent upon them a screaming wind, on a day of ill omen, continuous, snatching people away as if they were trunks of palm trees uprooted. How then was My punishment and My warning? And We have certainly made the Quran easy for remembrance: is there then anyone who will remember?
»
Surat al-Qamar, 18-22
As for the 'Ad, they were destroyed by a screaming, violent wind, which He subjected to them for seven nights and eight days consecutively: you would see the people therein lying prostrate, as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees. Do you see any remnant of them?
« Have you not seen what your Lord did with 'Ad, of Iram of the pillars, the like of which was not created in the lands, and Thamud, who carved the rock in the valley, and Pharaoh of the stakes, who were rebellious in the lands and multiplied corruption therein? Your Lord poured upon them the whip of punishment: your Lord is surely on watch. »
Surat al-Fajr, 6-14
We have already spoken of each of these stories in its places, in our book The Tafsir: to Allah belongs the praise and the favor. The mention of the 'Ad has occurred in sura Bara'a, Ibrahim, al-Furqan, al-'Ankabut, and in sura Sad, and in sura Qaf. Let us mention the content of the story in gathered form, from these contexts, with what is added to that of reports. We have already established that they were the first of the nations to worship idols after the flood:
« And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nuh and increased you in creation in stature » (al-A'raf, 69), that is: He made them the strongest people of their time in physique, strength and brutality. « Then We raised up after them another generation » (al-Mu'minun, 31): these are the people of Hud according to the correct view. It is said: that they are Thamud. « The cry seized them in justice, and We made them as stubble » (al-Mu'minun, 41): now the people of Salih are those who were destroyed by the cry; as for the 'Ad, they were destroyed by a screaming, violent wind (al-Haqqah, 6). And what they said does not prevent the cry and the violent wind from combining upon them, as will come in the story of the people of Madian, the people of the thicket, upon whom several kinds of punishments combined. And there is no disagreement that the 'Ad were before Thamud.
The point is that the 'Ad were coarse Arabs, disbelievers, rebellious and defiant in the worship of idols. Allah therefore sent among them a man from among them, calling them to Allah, to worship Him alone and to be sincere to Him. They denied him, opposed him and belittled him, so Allah seized them with the seizure of a Mighty, Capable One. When he commanded them the worship of Allah, encouraged them toward His obedience and seeking His forgiveness, and promised them for that the good of this world and the Hereafter, the assembly of his people who disbelieved said: we see you in folly, that is: this matter to which you call us is folly, given what we have of the worship of these idols from which victory and provision are hoped; and in addition to this we think you are lying in your claim that Allah sent you.
He said: O my people, there is no folly in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds, that is: the matter is not as you think, nor as you believe: I convey to you the messages of my Lord, and I am to you a trustworthy adviser. Conveyance entails the absence of lying in the conveyer fundamentally, the absence of addition or subtraction in it, and entails conveying with an eloquent, adequate, comprehensive, dissuasive expression, with no confusion in it, no divergence and no disturbance; and he is, along with this conveyance of this description, at the utmost of sincerity to his people, of compassion for them and of care for their guidance: he seeks no reward from them, demands no payment from them, but he is sincere to Allah in the call to Him and in sincere counsel to His creation, seeking his reward only from the One who sent him, for the good of this world and the Hereafter entirely is in His hands, and the command returns to Him. « O my people, I ask of you no reward for it: my reward is only upon the One who created me. Will you not then understand?
», that is: what reason do you have by which you might distinguish and understand that I call you to the clear truth which your nature, upon which you were created, testifies to, and which is the religion of truth with which Allah sent Nuh and destroyed whoever opposed it of creation? Here I am calling you to it, asking of you no reward for it, but seeking that from Allah, Possessor of harm and benefit. Follow the one who asks of you no reward, and they are well-guided: « And why should I not worship He who created me, and to Him you will be returned. »
« O Hud, you have not come to us with clear proof, and we will not forsake our gods for your word, and we are not believers in you. We only say that some of our gods have struck you with evil. » That is: you have not come to us with something supernatural that would testify for you to the truth of what you bring; we are not of those who forsake the worship of our idols upon your mere word, without a proof you have established, without an argument you have raised. We think nothing but that you are mad in what you claim; and according to us, what has befallen you is that one of our gods grew angry with you and struck your intellect, and madness seized you because of that.
« He said: I call Allah to witness, and bear you witness, that I am innocent of what you associate besides Him. So scheme against me all together, and give me no respite. » This is a challenge of his to them, a declaration of innocence from their gods, a belittling of them on his part, and a demonstration that they benefit nothing and do not harm, that they are an inert body whose judgment is his judgment, and whose deed is his deed: if they are as you claim, that they aid, benefit and harm, here I am innocent of them, cursing them: so scheme against me all together, and give me no respite: you and they together, with everything you can possibly reach and master, without giving me the delay of a single hour, or the blink of an eye: I care nothing for you, I do not think of you, and I am not concerned with you. « I have placed my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord: there is no creature but He holds its forelock.
My Lord is on a straight path. » That is: I trust in Allah and am aided by Him, and confident in His majesty from which none perishes who takes refuge in it and relies upon it: I care nothing for any creature other than Him, I trust in none but Him, and I worship none but Him. And this alone is a decisive argument that Hud is the servant of Allah and His messenger, and that they are in ignorance and error in their worship of other than Allah: for they never reached him with harm, nor obtained from them anything detestable, which demonstrates his truthfulness in what he brought them, and the nullity of what they were upon, and the corruption of what they had turned to. Before that, in his saying: « O my people, if my standing and my reminding of the signs of Allah weighs heavily upon you, then I have placed my trust in Allah.
So resolve upon your affair and your partners, then let not your affair be a worry to you, then pass judgment upon me and give me no respite » (Hud, 91): « And I do not fear what you associate, unless my Lord should will something: my Lord encompasses all things in knowledge. Will you not then remember? And how should I fear what you associate, while you do not fear that you have associated with Allah that for which He has sent down to you no authority? So which of the two parties has more right to security, if you know?
Those who believed and did not mix their faith with injustice: those have security, and they are well-guided. And that is Our argument which We gave to Ibrahim against his people: We raise in degrees whom We will: your Lord is Wise, Knowing » (al-An'am, 80-83).
And the assembly of his people who disbelieved and denied the meeting of the Hereafter, and to whom We had given luxury in the life of this world, said: this is only a human being like you, who eats of what you eat of it and drinks of what you drink. If you obey a human being like yourselves, you will indeed be losers. Does he promise you that when you have died and become dust and bones you will be brought out?
They judged it improbable that Allah would send a human messenger: and this is the sophistry presented by many of the ignorant among the disbelievers, ancient and recent. « Is it a wonder to the people that We revealed to a man from among them: warn the people » (Yunus, 2)? « And nothing prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them except that they said: has Allah sent a human being as a messenger? Say: if there were upon the earth angels walking securely, We would have sent down to them from the sky an angel as a messenger » (al-Isra, 94-95).
« Do you wonder that an admonition from your Lord has come to you through a man from among you, to warn you »: this is not a wonder, for Allah knows best where to place His message. « Does he promise you that when you have died and become dust and bones you will be brought out? Far away, far away is what you are promised. There is only our life of this world: we die and live, and we will not be resurrected.
He is only a man who has invented a lie against Allah, and we are not believers in him. » They judged improbable the return, and denied the re-erection of bodies after their transformation into dust and bones: far away, far away, that is: very far, very far, is this promise. « There is only our life of this world: we die and live »: a people dies and others live. And this is the creed of the dahrites: wombs that repel, and an earth that swallows.
As for the transmigrationists, they are those who believe that they return to this abode after every thirty-six thousand years: and all of that is lying, disbelief, ignorance and error, false sayings, a corrupt imagination, without argument, without proof that would entice the intellect of the debauched disbelievers of the children of Adam who do not reason and are not guided, and so that the hearts of those who do not believe in the Hereafter incline to it, and they accept it and commit what they commit (al-An'am, 113).
« Do you build on every elevation a sign, playing? And you take strongholds, that you may live forever? » Do you build on every elevated place a great, awesome construction, like palaces and the like, playing with their construction? For you have no need of it; and that was only because they dwelt in tents: « Have you not seen what your Lord did with 'Ad, of Iram of the pillars, the like of which was not created in the lands.
» The 'Ad of Iram are the first 'Ad, who dwelt in the pillars that carry the tents. Whoever claimed that Iram was a city of gold and silver, moving through the lands, has erred and gone astray: he said what there is no indication for. « And you take strongholds »: these are the palaces, the pigeon towers, the water reservoirs. « That you may live forever?
» That is, hoping among yourselves that you live in this abode long durations. « And when you seize, you seize as tyrants. So fear Allah and obey me. And fear Him who aided you with what you know, who aided you with livestock and children and gardens and springs.
I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day. » « Have you come to us that we may worship Allah alone and forsake what our fathers used to worship? Then bring us what you promise us, if you are of the truthful. » That is: have you come to us that we may worship Allah alone, and contradict our fathers and our ancestors and what they were upon?
If you are truthful in what you bring, bring what you promise us of punishment and reprisal, for we do not believe in you, do not follow you and do not hold you truthful. « It is all the same to us, whether you advise or are not of the advisors. This is only the habit of the ancients, and we will not be punished. » According to the reading with the open kha', what is meant is the fabrication of the ancients: that is, what you bring is only a fabrication from you, and you took it from the books of the ancients: thus explained it more than one of the Companions and the two following generations; and according to the reading with the geminated kha' and lam, what is meant is the religion: that is, this religion we are upon is only the religion of the fathers and grandfathers of our predecessors, and we will not depart from it, nor change, but will ever hold fast to it.
« And we will not be punished. » « Filth and anger have fallen upon you from your Lord. Do you dispute with me over names you have named, you and your fathers, for which Allah has sent down no authority? Then wait: I am with you of those who wait.
» That is: you have deserved by this speech the filth and the anger from Allah. You oppose the worship of Allah alone, without partner, by the worship of idols that you carved and named gods of your own accord, agreeing upon it, you and your fathers, for which Allah sent down no authority: that is, He sent down upon what you turned to neither indication nor proof. And if you refuse to accept the truth and persist in falsehood, and it is the same to you whether one forbids you what you are upon or not, then wait now for the punishment of Allah which will fall upon you, His assault which is not turned back, and His reprisal which is not stopped. « He said: my Lord, aid me, because they deny me.
He said: in a little while, they will surely rise up in regret. The cry seized them in justice, and We made them as stubble: so away with the wrongdoing people. » « They said: have you come to us to turn us away from our gods? Then bring us what you promise us, if you are of the truthful.
He said: the knowledge is only with Allah, and I convey to you that with which I was sent, but I see you a people who are ignorant. Then, when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: this is a cloud bringing us rain. No, it is what you were asking to hasten: a wind containing a painful punishment, destroying everything by the command of its Lord. So by morning nothing was to be seen but their dwellings: thus do We recompense the criminal people.
» And Allah the Most High mentioned the account of their destruction in more than one place: « So We saved him and those with him by a mercy from Us, and We cut off the roots of those who denied Our signs, and they were not believers. » « And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and We saved them from a harsh punishment. And such were the 'Ad: they denied the signs of their Lord, disobeyed His messengers, and followed the command of every obstinate tyrant. And they were followed, in this world, by a curse, and on the Day of Resurrection.
Unquestionably, the 'Ad disbelieved in their Lord: so away with 'Ad, the people of Hud! »
« The cry seized them in justice, and We made them as stubble: so away with the wrongdoing people. » « So they denied him, and We destroyed them. There is in that a sign, and most of them were not believers. And your Lord is surely the Mighty, the Merciful. »
« Then, when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: this is a cloud bringing us rain. No, it is what you were asking to hasten: a wind containing a painful punishment. » This was the beginning of the punishment that fell upon them: they were in scarcity and drought, so they asked for rain, saw a cloud in the sky and thought it a rain of mercy: but it was a rain of punishment, rather, it is what you were asking to hasten, that is, of the descent of the punishment: « Then bring us what you promise us, if you are of the truthful », and there is its like in al-A'raf.
The exegetes and others have mentioned here the following report: when they would accept nothing but disbelief in Allah (may His glory be exalted), He withheld from them the rain for three years, until that had exhausted them. The people of that time, when a matter exhausted them, sought relief from Allah, and they sought it only at the sacred precinct and the site of His house. And the Amalekites, of the descent of Imliq ibn Lawadh ibn Sam ibn Nuh, were settled there: their chief at that time was a man called Mu'awiya ibn Bakr, whose mother was of the people of 'Ad, Jaldah daughter of al-Khaybari. The 'Ad sent a delegation of close to seventy men to seek rain for them at the sacred precinct.
They passed by Mu'awiya ibn Bakr on the outskirts of Mecca, alighted with him and stayed with him a month: he gave them wine to drink, and two singing girls, songstresses of Mu'awiya, sang to them. When their stay with him grew long, and tender concern for his people seized him, and he felt too shy to command them to leave, he composed a poem hinting to them at departure, and commanded the two singing girls to sing it to them:
« O you of the evening, woe to you: rise and go to the rescue, perhaps Allah will grant us tomorrow a cloud that will water the land of 'Ad. The 'Ad have spent the evening, no longer speaking words, of intense thirst: we hope in it for neither the great old man nor the boy. Their women were in comfort: their women have spent the evening fasting. The wild beasts come upon them openly, and none fears for the 'Adite any arrows. And you, here, at your pleasure, your day and your night, entirely complete. The delegation of your people is rendered ugly among the delegations: do not refuse the greetings and the salutation. »
At that, the people awoke to what they had come for: they rose to the sacred precinct and prayed for their people. Their invoker, Qayl ibn 'Itar, invoked, and Allah raised three clouds: a white one, a red one and a black one. « Choose for yourself and your people from among these clouds. » « I have chosen the black cloud, for it is the cloud with the most water.
» « You have chosen crushing ashes, which will leave of the 'Ad no one: neither a father you will leave, nor a son, without making of him a scorched one, except Bani al-Lawdhiyya al-Muhda »: it is a clan of the 'Ad who were settled in Mecca: what befell their people did not befall them, and of their lineage and their offspring who remained, they are the second 'Ad. Allah guided the black cloud he had chosen to Mughith. When they saw it, they rejoiced: « This is a cloud bringing us rain. No, it is what you were asking to hasten: a wind containing a painful punishment, destroying everything by the command of its Lord.
» Mahd, when what was in it became clear, cried out, then fainted: « What did you see, O Mahd? I saw a wind in which were sparks of fire, and before it men leading it. » Allah subjected it to them for seven nights and eight days consecutively, perpetual, and it left of the 'Ad no one without destroying him. And Hud (peace be upon him), according to what was mentioned to me, withdrew into an enclosure, he and those with him of the believers: the wind reached them only with what softened their skins and delighted the souls, while it passed over the 'Ad, traveling between the sky and the earth, and knocked them down with stones.
And he related the story in full.
The imam Ahmad related in his Musnad a hadith resembling this story. Zayd ibn al-Hubab narrated to me, Abu al-Mundhir Salam ibn Sulayman an-Nahwi narrated to me, 'Asim ibn Abi an-Najoud narrated to us, from Abu Wa'il, from al-Harith, who is Ibn Hassaan ibn Yazid al-Bakri: I set out to complain to the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) about al-'Ala ibn al-Hadrami. I passed by ar-Rabadha and there was an old woman of Bani Tamim utterly destitute: « O servant of Allah, I have a need with the messenger of Allah: will you be my bearer to him? »
« I carried her request, came to Medina, and the mosque was thick with its people, a black banner fluttering, and Bilal with the sword girded, before the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). What is the matter with the people? They said: he intends to send 'Amr ibn al-'As on an expedition. I sat down.
He entered his house, or he said: he went on a journey. I sought permission to enter upon him and he permitted me. I entered and greeted: has there been anything between you and Bani Tamim? Yes: we had the upper hand over them, and I passed by an old woman of Bani Tamim utterly destitute: she asked me to carry her request to you, and here she is at the door.
He permitted her and she entered: O messenger of Allah, if you see to place between us and Bani Tamim a forbidden zone, make it adh-Dahna. The old woman was flattered and went off praising you. O messenger of Allah, to where will Mudar be driven? I said: as the first one said: a she-goat that carries her own loss.
I carried this one and did not feel that she was an opponent of mine: I seek the protection of Allah and His messenger from being like the delegation of the 'Ad. And what is the delegation of the 'Ad? He knows the hadith better than he, but he asks him. The 'Ad suffered drought.
Their invoker passed by Mu'awiya ibn Bakr and stayed with him a month, and he gave him wine to drink: the two singing girls. When the month passed, he went out to the mountains of Tihama: O Allah, You know that I have not come to a sick man to cure him, nor to a captive to ransom him. O Allah, give the 'Ad rain as You used to give them rain. Black clouds passed near him: choose.
He pointed to a black cloud among them. Take it: crushing ashes that will leave of the 'Ad no one. What reached me is that he sent upon them of the wind only as much as passes through this ring of wind, until they perished. And he spoke true.
And the man and the woman, when they send a delegation: let them not be like the delegation of the 'Ad. »
Related by Ahmad, from al-Harith ibn Hassaan ibn Yazid al-Bakri
At-Tirmidhi related it likewise, by the route of Abd ibn Humayd, from Zayd ibn al-Hubab with this attribution. An-Nasaï related it from the hadith of Salam Abu al-Mundhir, from 'Asim ibn Bahdala, and Ibn Majah related it by that route. And more than one exegete, like Ibn Jarir and others, cited this hadith and this story in the commentary of this verse.
It is possible that this account concerns the destruction of the second 'Ad: for what Ibn Ishaq and others mentioned contains a mention of Mecca, which was not built except after Ibrahim al-Khalil, when he settled Hajar and her son Isma'il in it, and Jurhum came to settle with them, as will come: whereas the first 'Ad were before al-Khalil. And in it is the mention of Mu'awiya ibn Bakr and his poem, which is poetry later than the time of the first 'Ad, not resembling the speech of the ancients. And in it is said that in those clouds there were sparks of fire, whereas the first 'Ad were only destroyed by a screaming wind. Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Abbas said: it is a cold wind, violent in its gale, which He subjected to them for seven nights and eight days consecutively, that is: complete and uninterrupted.
According to some reports, its beginning was Friday; according to others, Wednesday. « You would see the people therein lying prostrate, as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees »: He likened them to palm stumps without heads: and that because the wind would come to one of them, carry him, lift him into the air, then overturn him upon the crown of his head, crushing it, so that he remained a body without a head.
« We sent upon them a screaming wind, on a day of ill omen, continuous »: that is, a day of ill omen for them, its punishment upon them continuous. The day of ill omen, continuous, is, according to some, the day of Wednesday. Those who took it as an ill omen on this understanding have erred and contradicted the Quran: « So We sent upon them a screaming wind, in days of misfortune » (Fussilat, 16). And it is known that they were eight consecutive days: were they of ill omen in themselves, all seven days included in them would be unlucky: and no one says this.
The meaning in « days of misfortune » is: for them. « When We sent upon them the barren wind »: the one that produces no good, for the isolated wind scatters no clouds and pollinates no trees: it is barren, with no outcome of good. « Which left nothing of what it came upon but made it like decayed husks »: that is, like the dilapidated, perishing thing from which no benefit is derived at all. It is established in the two Sahihs, from the hadith of Shu'ba, from al-Hakam, from Mujahid, from Ibn Abbas, that he said: « I was aided by the wind of Saba, and the 'Ad were destroyed by the dabbour.
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« And remember the brother of 'Ad, when he warned his people at al-Ahqaf, and warners had already passed before him and after him: worship none but Allah; I fear for you the punishment of a tremendous day. »
Surat al-Ahqaf, 21
It appears that the 'Ad mentioned here are the first 'Ad, for its context resembles the context of the people of Hud, who are the first. And it is possible that those mentioned in this story are the second 'Ad: pointing to that is what we have mentioned, and what will come of the hadith of Aïsha (may Allah be pleased with her). « Then, when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: this is a cloud bringing us rain. » When the 'Ad saw this cloud, that is, the one forming in the atmosphere like a cloud, they took it for a cloud of rain: but it was a cloud of punishment; they held it a mercy: it was wrath; they hoped in it for good and received from it the utmost of evil.
« No, it is what you were asking to hasten »: that is, of the punishment, « a wind containing a painful punishment. » It is possible that that punishment is what befell them of the screaming, violent, cold wind, strong in its gale, which continued upon them seven nights with their eight days, leaving none of them, rather it pursued them until it entered upon them the caves of the mountains and the shelters, wrapping them, driving them out, destroying them, demolishing upon them the solid houses and the well-built palaces. And just as they had boasted of their strength and might: « Who is stronger than us? », Allah released against them He who is stronger than them in might, more capable over them: it is the barren wind.
And it is possible that this wind stirred up at the end of the matter clouds which those of them who remained took for clouds containing mercy for them and succor for whoever of them remained: so Allah sent them upon them in sparks and fire, as more than one narrator has mentioned. And that would be like what befell the people of the shade of Madian, for whom He combined the cold wind, the punishment of fire, which is the hardest of punishments through differing, opposite things, along with the cry He mentions in the sura Qaf: the believers have succeeded. And Allah knows best.
« Allah opened upon the 'Ad of the wind that destroyed them only the opening of the place of a ring. It passed over the people of the desert, carrying them with their livestock and wealth between the sky and the earth. The people of the towns, among the 'Ad, saw the wind and what was in it and said: this is a cloud bringing us rain. So it threw the people of the desert and their livestock upon the people of the towns.
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Related by Ahmad and at-Tabarani, from Mujahid
At-Tabarani related it by the route of Abdan ibn Ahmad, from Isma'il ibn Zakariya al-Koufi, from Abi Malik, from Muslim al-Mula'i, from Mujahid, and from Sa'id ibn Jubayr, from Ibn Abbas, who said: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: « Nothing was opened upon the 'Ad of the wind but the like of the place of a ring, then it was sent upon them and carried the desert folk toward the towns: this is a cloud bringing us rain, approaching our valleys. The people of the wastes were in it, and the people of the desert were cast upon the people of the towns until they perished. It trampled its treasuries until it went out through the doors. » Another said: it went out without counting. The point: this hadith, in its attribution to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), is subject to scrutiny; then there was disagreement over Muslim al-Mula'i, and it contains a kind of disturbance: Allah knows best.
The apparent meaning of the verse is that they saw a cloud: and what is understood from it, in language, is the cloud, as the hadith of al-Harith ibn Hassahan al-Bakri indicates, should we make it an interpreter of this story. Abou at-Tahir narrated to us: Ibn Wahb narrated to us: I heard Ibn Jurayj narrating to us, from 'Ata' ibn Abi Rabah: the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), when the wind blew violently, said: « O Allah, I ask You its good, the good of what is in it, and the good of what it was sent with, and I seek Your protection from its evil, the evil of what is in it, and the evil of what it was sent with. » And when the sky changed, its color changed, he went out and entered, came and went; and when it rained, he was seen joyful. Aïsha recognized that and asked him: « O Aïsha, like the people of 'Ad: Then, when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: this is a cloud bringing us rain.
» At-Tirmidhi, an-Nasaï and Ibn Majah related it from the hadith of Ibn Jurayj. Another route: Haroun ibn Ma'rouf narrated to us that Abdallah ibn Wahb informed us that 'Amr informed: « I never saw the messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) laughing openly until I saw his molars: he only used to smile. When he saw a cloud or a wind, that was recognized in his face. O messenger of Allah, when people see the cloud, they rejoice, hoping there is rain in it, and I see you, when you see it, recognize in your face the dislike?
» « O Aïsha, what assures me that there is not in it a punishment? A people was punished by the wind. The people of Nuh were punished by the wind: this is a cloud bringing us rain. » And thus Muslim related it, by the route of Haroun ibn Ma'rouf, and al-Bukhari and Abu Dawud related it from the hadith of Ibn Wahb.
This hadith is like the explicit statement of the two stories being distinct, as we indicated at the start. On this basis, the story mentioned in sura al-Ahqaf would be a report about the people of the second 'Ad, and the rest of the contexts in the Quran a report about the first 'Ad: and Allah knows best the right.
We have already mentioned the pilgrimage of Hud (peace be upon him) at the mention of the pilgrimage of Nuh. It was related from the commander of the believers Ali ibn Abi Talib that he mentioned the description of the grave of Hud (peace be upon him) in the land of the Yemen. Others mentioned that it is in Damascus, and in its mosque there is a place on its southern wall where some people claim is the grave of Hud (peace be upon him): and Allah knows best.