Ad
Nation of the Quran
Adعاد
The Quran gives no dateAl-Ahqaf, southern Arabia
Ad were a mighty people of the sand dunes who built tall monuments and boasted, 'Who is greater than us in strength?' (41:15). Hud, one of their own, called them to worship Allah and give up their tyranny. They mocked him and said some of their gods had struck him with evil (11:54).
What does the Quran say?
[With] Iram - who had lofty pillars,
Quran 89:7
7:65-7211:50-6026:123-14041:15-1646:21-2654:18-2169:6-889:6-8
How did they end?
Allah sent a screaming, violent wind for seven nights and eight days that left them like hollow trunks of palm trees (69:6-7).
What do historians say?
In 1992 a team guided by satellite images found a caravan fort at Shisr in Oman and announced it as Ubar, often linked with Iram. Many scholars doubt the link, and Ad remain unidentified by archaeology.
The lesson
Strength and great buildings cannot protect a people who are arrogant towards their Creator.
Who else is linked?
Everyone and everything in the timeline
People named in the Quran and the hadith, the Prophet's ﷺ family and Companions, scholars, rulers, the nations of the Quran, the world's empires and the places where it all happened. Where scholars differ, each entry says so.
Nations of the Quran
- People of Nuh
- Ad
- Thamud
- People of Lut
- Madyan
- Companions of the Thicket
- Companions of the Rass
- People of Tubba
- Saba (Sheba)
- Bani Israil
- People of Firaun
- People of Yunus
- The city of the Sleepers
- Companions of the Ditch
- Companions of the Elephant
- People of the Sabbath
- Yajuj and Majuj
- Quraysh
- Thaqif
- Hawazin
- Aws and Khazraj (the Ansar)
- The Romans (Rum)
- The Persians
- People of Ibrahim
- Jurhum
- People of Ilyas
- People of the Town (Ya-Sin)
- The Sabians
- The Magians (Majus)