This article tells of the people of Aad who challenged the Prophet Hud by asking for the punishment to be hastened because they denied him, until they were finally destroyed by a tremendous wind after being afflicted by prolonged drought.
The People of Aad Requested the Hastening of Punishment, Allah's Retribution
In the end, what happened to the people of Noah was repeated with the people of Aad; they requested that the punishment be hastened because they denied that the Prophet Hud was a messenger of Allah. They did not believe that the punishment was real because they did not have faith in Allah. They thought the Prophet Hud was a liar, but in fact it was they who were liars. They said, as Allah stated:
They said: "Have you come to us so that we should worship only Allah and abandon what our fathers used to worship? Then bring upon us the punishment you threaten us with, if you are of the truthful." (Qur'an 7:70)
They also said:
They answered: "It is the same to us whether you warn us or do not warn us; this is nothing but the tradition of the former peoples, and we will certainly not be punished." (Qur'an 26:136-138)
The Prophet Hud was saddened hearing his people's foolish words. The Prophet Hud supplicated to Allah:
"O my Lord, help me against those who deny me." Allah said: "In a little while, they will indeed become those who regret." So they were destroyed by a sound that thundered justly, and We made them as rubbish of a flood; so away with the people who do wrong. (Qur'an 23:39-41)
Allah's retribution against the disbelieving and rebellious people of Aad came in two stages. The first stage was drought that struck their fields and orchards, causing anxiety and distress, lest they did not receive harvests from their fields and orchards as usual. Allah the Exalted began by withholding rain for 3 years, then they sought a way out from Allah at their House and Sanctuary, which was famous among the people of that time. In it were the people of Amalik, descendants of Imlaq ibn Lawadh ibn Sam ibn Nuh. Their leader at that time was Mu'awiyyah ibn Bakr, whose mother was from the people of Aad, named Jalhadah daughter of Al-Khaibari. The people of Aad sent a delegation of about 70 people to fetch water. Then they passed by Mu'awiyyah in the region of Makkah, then they stayed for a month at his place to drink wine and gave it to Mu'awiyyah.
After finishing their visit to Mu'awiyyah, they quickly went to Al-Haram and supplicated for their people. Then one of their religious leaders named Qail ibn Anaz supplicated for them. So Allah sent three clouds: white, red, and black, and they were called from the sky, "Choose for yourself and your people from these clouds." Qail answered, "I choose the black one." Qail thought that the black cloud was the cloud that would bring rain for them.
Then Allah sent the black cloud that Qail had chosen to the people of Aad, until the cloud appeared in a valley called Al-Mughits. The people of Aad saw it and they were overjoyed, they said, "This is rain for us!" Allah the Exalted said:
Then when they saw the punishment in the form of clouds approaching their valleys, they said: "This is a cloud that will bring rain to us." No! But it is the punishment you asked to be hastened, a wind carrying a painful punishment, which destroys everything by the command of its Lord. So they were made not to be seen except (the remains of) their dwellings. Thus We repay the sinful people. (Qur'an 46:24-25)
The first person from the people of Aad who saw that the cloud was a destructive wind was a woman named Mahd. When she saw it, she cried out and fainted. When she regained consciousness, her people asked her, "What did you see, O Mahd?" She answered, "I saw a black cloud like a meteor from hellfire, and before it there is a man guiding it!"
Then Allah the Exalted set the black cloud in motion for 7 consecutive days surrounding them. Not a single person was left alive in the village of the people of Aad, while the Prophet Hud (peace be upon him) and those who had believed earlier had already left his people, isolating themselves and avoiding the punishment and painful torment of Allah.
A similar story is narrated by Imam Ahmad in his Musnad (no. 15524 with a hasan chain) from the hadith of Al-Harith ibn Yazid Al-Bakri concerning an old woman from Bani Tamim.
Ibn Mas'ud and Ibn Abbas and more than one imam of the Successors said, The wind was cold and very violent. (Jami'ul Bayan At-Tabari 24/102)
Allah the Exalted said:
As for the people of Ad, they were destroyed by an extremely cold and violent wind, which Allah sent upon them for seven consecutive nights and eight days; so you see the people of Ad at that time dead, lying in heaps, as if they were trunks of hollow date palms. (Qur'an 69:6-7).
Allah likened those people to date palm trunks without heads because the wind at that time came upon them and lifted them up violently, then twisted their heads until they broke and only headless bodies remained. Some of them fled to caves and mountains because their houses had been destroyed. Then Allah sent the wind Al-Aqim, which is a hot wind accompanied by flames behind it.
The People of Aad Requested the Hastening of Punishment
The remaining people of Aad thought this wind would save them. But this wind actually gathered them all in a whirlwind of cold and hot air that was utterly devastating. This is the most terrible wind punishment in history that ever occurred on earth, accompanied by the most sorrowful cries from the people of Aad. This is the punishment they kept asking to be hastened.
As for the Prophet Hud and his believers among his companions, they received protection from Allah from the disaster that befell his people, and they remained calm while witnessing the state of his chaotic people, hearing the roar of the wind and the sound of trees and buildings falling, as well as the cries and weeping of those asking for help and pleading for protection.
After the weather returned to calm and the land of Al-Ahqaf became completely silent from the people of Aad, the Prophet Hud departed, leaving his place and migrating to Hadramawt, where he stayed spending the rest of his life until he died. Reports mention that the Prophet Hud was buried in the land of Yemen, this is from the narration of Ali ibn Abi Talib. Another report says his grave is in Damascus, in its mosque there is a place that many people think is the grave of the Prophet Hud (peace be upon him). Allah knows best.
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