Prophet Hud (AS) – The People of ‘Ad حضرت ہود علیہ السلام – قومِ عاد

After the Flood, the descendants of Nuh (AS) spread across the earth, and among the first great nations to arise from them were the people of ‘Ad. The Quran calls them “the first ‘Ad” (An-Najm 53:50), distinguishing them from later tribes that carried the same name, and places them in al-Ahqaf (Al-Ahqaf 46:21) – a word meaning long, winding sand dunes. The commentators locate this in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, in the region of Hadramawt and the great sands between Yemen and Oman, where to this day the dunes run for hundreds of miles. Their lineage, according to the genealogists quoted by Ibn Kathir, went back to ‘Ad, son of ‘Aws, son of Iram, son of Sam, son of Nuh; these names come from the historians, not from revelation.

What the Quran does tell us is what kind of people they were. They were enormous in strength and stature. Hud reminded them: “And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nuh and increased you in stature extensively” (Al-A’raf 7:69). They were builders on a scale never seen before. Allah speaks of “‘Ad – Iram – who had lofty pillars, the likes of whom had never been created in the land” (Al-Fajr 89:6–8). Hud rebuked them for the use they made of their skill: “Do you construct on every elevation a sign, amusing yourselves, and take for yourselves palaces and fortresses that you might abide eternally?” (Ash-Shu’ara 26:128–129). They built not for need but for display, and they built as though death would never come.

They were rich. Hud listed Allah’s gifts to them: “He has aided you with cattle and children, and gardens and springs” (Ash-Shu’ara 26:133–134). Their land, now desert, then had water and crops. And they were violent: “And when you strike, you strike as tyrants” (Ash-Shu’ara 26:130). Power had made them cruel to the weak around them.

Above all, they were arrogant. The Quran records the sentence that summed up their outlook: “As for ‘Ad, they were arrogant upon the earth without right and said: Who is greater than us in strength?” Allah answers: “Did they not consider that Allah who created them was greater than them in strength? But they were rejecting Our signs” (Fussilat 41:15). They worshipped idols, as the people of Nuh had, but their characteristic sin was pride in their own strength. Nuh’s people had said, “We do not see in you any merit over us”; ‘Ad went further and asked who in all existence could be stronger than they were.

Some scholars identified Iram in the verse of Al-Fajr as the name of a city, and later popular tradition told of a lost city of pillars hidden in the sands. Ibn Kathir discusses this and leans to the view that Iram is the name of the tribe or its ancestor, so that the verse means “‘Ad of Iram, the people of the pillars” – that is, the people who lived in tents on great pillars, or who built towering columns. The tales of a golden city built by the king Shaddad, filled with jewels and visited by a lost traveller in the time of Mu’awiyah, he dismisses as the fabrications of storytellers.

This was the nation to which Allah sent a prophet. Not a nation of ignorant nomads, but a civilisation at the height of its power, confident that nothing could touch it. The Quran’s description of them is a warning to every civilisation that measures itself by its towers and its armies.

“And to ‘Ad [We sent] their brother Hud. He said: O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. You are not but inventors of falsehood” (Hud 11:50). The Quran calls Hud “their brother” – not a stranger, not a foreigner, but a man from among them, of their tribe and their language, who had grown up among them and whom they knew. This is how Allah sent every messenger: from among the people themselves, so that no one could say the messenger did not understand them. The genealogists say Hud was of the noblest house of ‘Ad; the Quran says only that he was their brother.

His message was the same as Nuh’s: the worship of Allah alone. He added, in the manner of every prophet, that he sought nothing from them: “O my people, I do not ask you for it any reward. My reward is only from the One who created me. Then will you not reason?” (Hud 11:51). He did not claim to be an angel or to know the unseen. He simply conveyed: “I convey to you the messages of my Lord, and I am to you a trustworthy adviser” (Al-A’raf 7:68).

Like Nuh, he connected faith with the blessings of this world: “O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him. He will send rain from the sky upon you in showers and increase you in strength added to your strength. And do not turn away, being criminals” (Hud 11:52). To a people who prided themselves on strength, he promised that Allah would add to their strength if they turned to Him. He was not asking them to become weak; he was telling them where strength really came from.

He confronted the three faults the Quran had described: their vain buildings, their cruelty and their arrogance. “Do you construct on every elevation a sign, amusing yourselves… and when you strike, you strike as tyrants? So fear Allah and obey me” (Ash-Shu’ara 26:128–131). And he reminded them of their origin: Allah had made them successors to the people of Nuh. They knew what had happened to the people of Nuh. The Flood was not ancient legend to them; it was the recent history of their own ancestors, who had survived it on the Ark. Hud’s argument was simple: the people who were destroyed before you were destroyed for exactly what you are now doing.

He also pointed them to the specific gifts of Allah in their lives: “And fear He who provided you with that which you know: provided you with grazing livestock and children, and gardens and springs. Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a terrible day” (Ash-Shu’ara 26:132–135). The cattle, the sons, the gardens and the springs were not their achievements; they were loans from the One they were ignoring.

Ibn Kathir notes that Hud’s preaching, as recorded in the Quran, combines every element of a complete call: tawhid, the denial of any personal motive, the promise of blessing for repentance, the reminder of past nations, the enumeration of present blessings, the correction of specific sins, and the warning of the Hereafter. In the surah that bears his name, Allah placed his story immediately after Nuh’s so that the reader sees a second nation walking the same road to the same end, and in Surah Ash-Shu’ara the stories of Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut and Shu’ayb follow one another with the same refrain – “So fear Allah and obey me” – to show that the religion of all the prophets is one.

The chiefs of ‘Ad replied to Hud with contempt. “The eminent ones who disbelieved among his people said: Indeed, we see you in foolishness, and indeed, we think you are of the liars” (Al-A’raf 7:66). Hud’s answer was dignified: “O my people, there is not foolishness in me, but I am a messenger from the Lord of the worlds” (Al-A’raf 7:67).

Then came the argument every proud people makes: that they would not abandon the ways of their fathers. “They said: Have you come to us that we should worship Allah alone and leave what our fathers worshipped?” (Al-A’raf 7:70). And another argument, cruder still, that it made no difference what they did: “It is all the same to us whether you advise or are not of the advisors. This is not but the custom of the former peoples, and we are not to be punished” (Ash-Shu’ara 26:136–138). They had heard about punishment of past nations and dismissed it as a story; they had seen their own power and decided that no punishment would reach them.

Some among them also claimed that Hud had been harmed by their gods for speaking against them: “We only say that some of our gods have possessed you with evil” (Hud 11:54). Hud’s reply to this is one of the boldest statements of faith in the Quran. Standing alone before a nation of giants who could strike like tyrants, he said: “Indeed, I call Allah to witness, and witness yourselves, that I am free from whatever you associate with Allah other than Him. So plot against me all together; then do not give me respite. Indeed, I have relied upon Allah, my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature but that He holds its forelock. Indeed, my Lord is on a straight path” (Hud 11:54–56). He challenged all of ‘Ad and all their gods to do their worst, because he knew that every creature, however mighty, was held by its forelock in the hand of Allah.

Then he told them plainly what would happen: “If you turn away, then I have already conveyed that with which I was sent to you. My Lord will give succession to a people other than you, and you will not harm Him at all. Indeed, my Lord is over all things a Guardian” (Hud 11:57). They would be replaced, as the people of Nuh had been replaced, and Allah would lose nothing.

Their final response was a dare. “They said: Have you come to us to delude us away from our gods? Then bring us what you promise us, if you should be of the truthful” (Al-Ahqaf 46:22). Hud replied: “Knowledge is only with Allah, and I convey to you that with which I was sent; but I see you are a people behaving ignorantly” (Al-Ahqaf 46:23). He did not know when the punishment would come or what form it would take. He only knew it would come.

Allah then describes their state in a single verse that is itself a verdict: “That was ‘Ad, who rejected the signs of their Lord and disobeyed His messengers and followed the order of every obstinate tyrant. And they were followed in this world with a curse and on the Day of Resurrection. Unquestionably, ‘Ad denied their Lord; then away with ‘Ad, the people of Hud” (Hud 11:59–60). The phrase “followed the order of every obstinate tyrant” points to the reason their arrogance was so complete: the people submitted to proud leaders who would not bend to anything, and those leaders led them to ruin.

Ibn Kathir records a long narration found in the books of history and in some tafsirs about a delegation that ‘Ad sent to Makkah to pray for rain, including a man named Qayl ibn ‘Anz, who was shown three clouds and chose the black one, from which the wind came. Parts of this story appear in Musnad Ahmad and at-Tirmidhi (3273) from al-Harith ibn Hassan al-Bakri, with a chain that scholars have discussed; some graded it hasan. The Quran gives the essential and certain account, which is the subject of the next chapter.

The punishment of ‘Ad is described in the Quran with more physical detail than almost any other. It began, according to Surah Al-Ahqaf, with a drought – implied by the people’s eagerness for rain – and then with what looked like relief. “And when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: This is a cloud bringing us rain! Rather, it is that for which you were impatient: a wind, within it a painful punishment, destroying everything by command of its Lord. And they became so that nothing was seen except their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the criminal people” (Al-Ahqaf 46:24–25). They ran out to welcome the dark cloud, thinking their gardens would be watered. It was the thing they had dared Hud to bring.

Allah names the wind: “And as for ‘Ad, they were destroyed by a screaming, violent wind, which He imposed upon them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so you would see the people therein fallen as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees. Then do you see of them any remains?” (Al-Haqqah 69:6–8). The word sarsar means a wind that is both furiously loud and bitterly cold. In Surah Al-Qamar: “Indeed, We sent upon them a screaming wind on a day of continuous misfortune, extracting the people as if they were trunks of palm trees uprooted” (Al-Qamar 54:19–20). In Surah Fussilat: “So We sent upon them a screaming wind during days of misfortune to make them taste the punishment of disgrace in the worldly life; but the punishment of the Hereafter is more disgracing, and they will not be helped” (Fussilat 41:16). And in Surah Adh-Dhariyat: “And in ‘Ad, when We sent against them the barren wind. It left nothing of what it came upon but that it made it like disintegrated ruins” (Adh-Dhariyat 51:41–42). The wind was “barren” – it brought no rain, pollinated no tree, carried no benefit; it was pure destruction.

The Prophet ﷺ gave the wind its direction. He said: “I was given victory by the saba (the east wind), and ‘Ad were destroyed by the dabur (the west wind)” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1035; Sahih Muslim 900). The same wind that, in the Battle of the Trench, uprooted the tents of the besieging Quraysh and sent them home was a mercy to the believers; a wind from the other direction had been the end of ‘Ad. The Prophet ﷺ himself was deeply conscious of this story. Aisha reported that whenever a strong wind blew, he would become anxious and go in and out, and when it rained he would be relieved. She asked him why, and he said: “O Aisha, perhaps it is as the people of Hud said: And when they saw it as a cloud approaching their valleys, they said: This is a cloud bringing us rain” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4829; Sahih Muslim 899). The last Messenger ﷺ, knowing that he was sent as a mercy, still feared a cloud, because he knew what a cloud had once done to a nation that mocked a prophet.

The image of fallen palm trunks is deliberate. ‘Ad were tall; their bodies, flung down by the wind, looked like the trunks of palms – tall, heavy, lifeless, and hollow. Their height, which they had boasted of, became the measure of their fall. Those who had said “Who is greater than us in strength?” were lifted and thrown by moving air. Ibn Kathir observes that Allah chose, from among all His soldiers, the lightest and gentlest of things – wind – to destroy the strongest of nations, so that the lesson could not be missed.

Nothing was left of them but their homes: “And they became so that nothing was seen except their dwellings” (Al-Ahqaf 46:25). The buildings on the high places, the palaces and fortresses they had raised as if they would live forever, stood empty over a dead people. The Quran says elsewhere, of nations like them: “Then do you see of them any remains?” (Al-Haqqah 69:8). The question is addressed to every reader. Look for ‘Ad; you will not find them.

While the wind destroyed ‘Ad, Hud (AS) and those who believed with him were untouched. “And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him, by mercy from Us; and We saved them from a harsh punishment” (Hud 11:58). In Surah Al-A’raf: “So We saved him and those with him by mercy from Us. And We eliminated those who denied Our signs, and they were not believers” (Al-A’raf 7:72). The Quran attributes the salvation of the believers not to their own merit but to “mercy from Us.” Even the prophet was saved by mercy.

The Quran gives no number for those who believed and does not say where they went. The reports that Hud and the believers withdrew to a walled enclosure while the wind raged, and that the wind, by Allah’s command, passed over them as a gentle breeze, are from the commentators and the Isra’iliyyat; they are reasonable but not established. Some reports say that after the destruction Hud settled with the believers in Hadramawt, or that he went to Makkah and lived there until his death. His grave is shown to this day in Hadramawt, in Yemen, near Tarim, and has been visited for centuries, and some reports say that Ali ibn Abi Talib mentioned it; Ibn Kathir records these reports and notes that the location of his grave, like that of most prophets other than Muhammad ﷺ, cannot be established with certainty. He adds that other reports place the grave in Damascus or in Makkah, which shows how uncertain the matter is.

What the Quran preserves of Hud is his speech. Across Hud, Al-A’raf, Ash-Shu’ara, Al-Ahqaf and the other surahs, Allah has recorded his words to his people in detail: his call, his refusal of reward, his promise of rain and strength for repentance, his reminder of the people of Nuh, his challenge to their idols, his declaration of trust in Allah who holds every creature by its forelock. These words, spoken to a people now extinct, are recited daily by a billion people in their prayers. Hud’s people built towers so that they would be remembered; they are remembered only as the people whom Hud warned.

Hud is mentioned by name seven times in the Quran and is one of four prophets whom the Quran describes as Arabs or sent to Arab peoples: Hud, Salih, Shu’ayb and Muhammad ﷺ. The eleventh surah of the Quran bears his name. Abu Bakr once said to the Prophet ﷺ: “O Messenger of Allah, you have become grey.” He replied: “Hud and its sisters – Al-Waqi’ah, Al-Mursalat, ‘Amma yatasa’alun (An-Naba) and Idhash-shamsu kuwwirat (At-Takwir) – have made me grey” (Jami’ at-Tirmidhi 3297, graded hasan). Surah Hud contains the destruction of the people of Nuh, Hud, Salih, Lut and Shu’ayb one after another, and the command: “So remain on a right course as you have been commanded” (Hud 11:112). The weight of those destroyed nations, and of the command to stand firm, is what turned the Prophet’s hair grey.

The story of ‘Ad remained a living warning in Arabia. The Prophet ﷺ was sent to a people who knew the ruins of these nations, who passed through them on trade journeys, and to whom the Quran said: “And We had certainly established them in such as We have not established you, and We made for them hearing and vision and hearts. But their hearing and vision and hearts availed them not from anything when they were rejecting the signs of Allah” (Al-Ahqaf 46:26). The Quraysh had less power than ‘Ad, and ‘Ad had been destroyed. The lesson was not subtle.

Ibn Kathir ends his account with the words of Allah in Surah Hud: “And they were followed in this world with a curse and on the Day of Resurrection” (Hud 11:60). The ruin of ‘Ad in the world was the first part of their punishment; the second awaits. For Hud, the opposite: honour in the Quran, and the company of the prophets. May the peace of Allah be upon him.