15835 - 'Ubayd ibn Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn Hamzah narrated to us, in what he wrote to me, [saying]: Abu al-Jumahir reported to us, [saying]: Sa'id reported to us, from Qatadah regarding His saying: 'This is not but the character of the former [peoples] and we will not be punished', [meaning]: 'We are only like the former [peoples]; we live as they lived, then we die, and there is neither reckoning, nor punishment for us, nor resurrection.'

His saying, the Exalted: 'Then We destroyed them.'

15836 - Abu Sa'id al-Ashajj narrated to us, [saying]: 'Uqbah ibn Khalid narrated to us, [saying]: Shu'bah narrated to us, from al-Hakam, from Mujahid, from Ibn 'Abbas, who said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said: 'I was granted victory through the east wind [al-saba], and 'Ad was destroyed by the west wind [al-dabur].'

15837 - My father narrated to us, [saying]: Nasr ibn 'Ali narrated to us, [saying]: Nuh ibn Qays reported to us, [saying]: Ash'ath ibn Jabir al-Haddani narrated to us, from Shahr ibn Hawshab, from Abu Hurayrah, who said: 'A man from the people of 'Ad would lift a heavy stone [misra'], such that if five hundred men from this nation gathered for it, they would not be able to move it. And one of them would place his foot into the ground, and it would sink into it.'

15838 - My father narrated to us, [saying]: Nasr ibn 'Ali narrated to us, [saying]: Nuh ibn Qays reported to us, from Abu Raja' Muhammad ibn Sayf al-Haddani, from al-Hasan, who said: 'When the wind came to the people of 'Ad, they planted their feet into the ground and grabbed one another by the hand, saying: "Who is there that can remove our feet from their places if you are truthful?" So Allah sent upon them the wind that tore their feet from the ground, as if they were trunks of uprooted palm trees.'

15839 - Muhammad ibn al-'Abbas, the freed slave of Banu Hashim, narrated to us, [saying]: 'Abd al-Rahman ibn Salamah narrated to us, [saying]: Salamah narrated to us, [saying]: Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: Allah sent Hud to them, but they refused him and denied him, and said: "Who is stronger than us in power?" He said: When they did that, Allah withheld the rain from the sky for three years, as they claim, until that exhausted them. People in that time, when a trial or hardship befell them, would seek relief from Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He). Their petition was directed to Allah at Makkah, at His Sacred House, both the Muslim among them and the disbeliever. Thus, many people would gather in Makkah, of various and differing religions, all of whom honored Makkah and knew its sanctity and its place with Allah. The mother of Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr was a woman from 'Ad, named Kalhadah bint al-Khabiri. When the rain ceased and they were distressed, they said: "Prepare a delegation from among you to Makkah so they may seek rain for you, for you have perished." So they sent Qayl ibn 'Athar, Laqim ibn Huzal, Hudhayl ibn 'Atik ibn Didd ibn 'Ad the Elder, Marbad ibn Sa'd ibn 'Ufayr (who was a Muslim hiding his faith), and Jalhamah ibn al-Khabiri (the close companion of Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr and brother of his mother). Then they sent Athman ibn 'Ad ibn Fulan ibn Milan ibn Didd ibn 'Ad the Elder. Each man from among these people set out with a group from his tribe until the count of their delegation reached seventy men. When they arrived at Makkah, they stayed with Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr, who was at the outskirts of Makkah, outside the Sacred Precinct [Haram]. He accommodated them and honored them, for they were his maternal uncles and in-laws, and Huzaylah bint Bakr was the sister of Mu'awiyah from both his father and mother. When the delegation of 'Ad settled with Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr, they stayed with him for a month, drinking wine while the two Jaradatayn (two singing maids of Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr) sang for them. Their journey had taken a month, and their stay lasted a month. When Mu'awiyah saw their continued stay—when their people had sent them to seek succor from the affliction that had befallen them—it troubled him, and he said: "My maternal uncles and in-laws have perished, while these [men] are staying with me, as my guests, descending upon me. By Allah, I do not know how to act regarding them. I am ashamed to order them to leave for the mission they were sent for, lest they think it is because I am weary of their stay with me." Meanwhile, their people behind them had perished from distress and thirst. Then they [the delegation] left for Makkah to seek rain for 'Ad. When they turned toward Makkah, Allah created three clouds: white, red, and black. Then a caller called out from the clouds: "O Qayl, choose for yourself and your people from these clouds." Qayl said: "I have chosen the black cloud, for it is the one with the most water." A caller then called out to him: "You have chosen a scorching ash that leaves not one of 'Ad [remaining], neither parent nor child, but it turns them into ruins, except for the sons of al-Lawdhiyyah the gifted." Hud, it is mentioned to me, withdrew with those who were with him from the believers into an enclosure; none of it reached him or the believers with him, save for that which softens the skin and brings delight to the soul. It would pass over 'Ad with gusts between the sky and the earth, striking them with stones.'

15840 - My father narrated to us, [saying]: Al-Hakam ibn Musa narrated to us, [saying]: Al-Walid narrated to us, [saying]: Ibn 'Ajlan narrated to us, [saying]: 'Awn ibn 'Abd Allah ibn 'Utbah [narrated] that when Abu al-Darda' saw what the Muslims had built in al-Ghuta, in terms of buildings and planting trees, he stood in their mosque and called out: "O people of Damascus!" They gathered around him, and he praised Allah and extolled Him, then said: "Do you not feel shame? Do you not feel shame? You gather what you do not eat, you build what you do not inhabit, and you hope for what you do not attain. There were generations before you who gathered and amassed, built and fortified, and hoped and lingered; yet their hope became delusion, their gathering became ruin, and their dwellings became graves. Know that 'Ad possessed everything between Aden and 'Oman in terms of horses and mounts. Who will buy from me the inheritance of 'Ad for two dirhams?"