Who Was The people of the Well? A nation lost to history in Islamic History

Before the worldBefore Adam

The first nationsAdam to Shuayb

Egypt and Bani Israilc. 1300–1000 BCE

Bani Israil and Romec. 1000 BCE – 250 CE

Arabia before IslamUp to 570 CE

Enemies of the Prophet ﷺ610–632 CE

After the Prophet ﷺ632–1000 CE

Crusades and conquests1090–1502 CE

The end of timeStill to come

Ten signs before the Hour

Isa ibn Maryam descends
A landslide in the east
A landslide in the west
A landslide in Arabia
The smoke
The sun rises from the west
The Beast of the earth
A fire from Yemen drives people to their gathering

Sahih Muslim lists ten major signs before the Hour without fixing their order. This follows a common order given by the scholars. Sahih Muslim 2901a ↗

Villains of history10 / 76

أصحاب الرس

The people of the Well

A nation lost to historyDate unknown

Named twice beside Ad, Thamud and Pharaoh among the nations who denied their messengers. Some commentators say they threw their prophet into a well.

How it ended

They were destroyed with the others, 'and many generations between them' (25:38).

And [We destroyed] 'Aad and Thamud and the companions of the well and many generations between them.
Quran 25:38

The lessonMost of history's wrongdoers are not remembered by name, only by how they ended.

In the Quran

25:38 50:12

Stood against: their messenger
Source: Named in the QuranWho they were is not known. The commentators give different views: a remnant of Thamud, a town in Yamamah, or a people further east.

Every villain in Islamic history, from Iblis to the Dajjal

Each entry is drawn from the Quran, authentic hadith (with links to sunnah.com), the classical commentators and the historians. Companions who fought Islam and later became Muslim are not included, nor are figures Muslims disagree about.

Before the worldBefore Adam

Before Adam Iblis: the one who refused