Hud (prophet)

Hud (Arabic: هُوْد, romanized: Hūd) was a prophet of ancient Arabia mentioned in the Quran.[2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The eleventh chapter of the Quran, Hud, is named after him, though the narrative of Hud comprises only a small portion of the chapter.[3]

This article is about the Islamic prophet. For other uses, see HUD.
Prophet

Hūd
هُوْد
Resting placePossibly Qabr An-Nabi Hud in Hadhramaut, South Arabia[1]
Other namesPossibly ʿĒḇer (Hebrew: עֵבֶר), but this is disputed
TitleProphet
PredecessorNuh
SuccessorSaleh

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See also: Arabian Desert and Rub' al Khali

Hud has sometimes been identified with Eber,[9] an ancestor of the Ishmaelites and the Israelites who is mentioned in the Old Testament.

Hud is said to have been a subject of a mulk (Arabic: مُلك, kingdom) named after its founder, 'Ad, a fourth-generation descendant of Noah (his father being Uz, the son of Aram, who was the son of Shem, who in turn was a son of Noah):

The ʿĀd people, with their prophet Hud, are mentioned in many places. See especially 26:123-140 -Yusuf Ali, and 46:21-26 -Yusuf Ali. Their eponymous ancestor ʿAd was fourth in generation from Noah, having been a son of 'Aus, the son of Aram, the son of Sam, the son of Noah. They occupied a large tract of country in Southern Arabia, extending from Umman at the mouth of the Persian Gulf to Hadhramaut and Yemen at the southern end of the Red Sea. The people were tall in stature and were great builders. Probably the long, winding tracts of sands (ahqaf) in their dominions (46:21) were irrigated with canals. They forsook the true God, and oppressed their people. A three years famine visited them, but yet they took no warning. At length a terrible blast of wind destroyed them and their land, but a remnant, known as the second ʿĀd or the Thamud (see below) were saved, and afterwards suffered a similar fate for their sins. The tomb of the Prophet Hud (qabr Nabi Hud) is still traditionally shown in Hadhramaut, latitude 16 N, and longitude 491⁄2 E, about 90 miles north of Mukalla. There are ruins and inscriptions in the neighborhood.

— Abdullah Yusuf Ali, The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary, Note 1040[10]

The other tribes claimed to be present at this time in Arabia, were the Thamud, Jurhum, Tasam, Jadis, Amim, Midian, Amalek Imlaq, Jasim, Qahtan, Banu Yaqtan and others.[11]

The Quran gives the location of ʿĀd as being Al-Aḥqāf (Arabic: ٱلْأَحقَاف, "The Sandy Plains", or "The Wind-curved Sand-hills").[6][12][13] It is believed to have been in South Arabia, possibly in eastern Yemen and/or western Oman. In November 1991, a settlement was discovered and hypothesized to be Ubar,[14] which is thought to be mentioned in the Qur'an as Iram dhāt al-ʿImād ("Iram of the Pillars" or "Iram of the tentpoles"),[8][13] and may have been the capital of ʿĀd. One of the members of the original expedition, archeologist Juris Zarins, however, later concluded that the discovery did not represent a city called Ubar.[15][16] In a 1996 interview on the subject, he said:

If you look at the classical texts and the Arab historical sources, Ubar refers to a region and a group of people, not to a specific town. People always overlook that. It's very clear on Ptolemy's second century map of the area. It says in big letters "Iobaritae". And in his text that accompanied the maps, he's very clear about that. It was only the late medieval version of One Thousand and One Nights, in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, that romanticised Ubar and turned it into a city, rather than a region or a people."[17]

The Moroccan mystic Abdulaziz ad-Dabbagh gives detailed information about Hud: According to him, 53:50 alludes to the fact that Hud was sent to the second ʿAd tribe, which lived after Noah. The first 'Ad tribe had a messenger named Huwayd, whose message was to be revived by Hud, and the tribe was destroyed with stones and fire by God. Hud was Eber's son (see Eber in Islam for his genealogy) and Iram was the name of one of the tribes of 'Ad, specifically the one Hud was sent to (see Iram in the Qur'an).[18]

Narrative in the Quran
Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim
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The prophet Hud, in a Persian illustrated Stories of the Prophets

This is a brief summary of Hud's narrative, with emphasis on two particular verses:

The people of ʿĀd were extremely powerful and wealthy and they built countless buildings[19] and monuments to show their power. However, the ʿĀd people's wealth ultimately proved to be their failure, as they became arrogant and forsook God and began to adopt idols for worship, including three named Samd, Samud and Hara.[11] Hud, even in childhood, remained consistent in prayer to God. It is related through exegesis that Hud's mother, a pious woman who had seen great visions at her son's birth, was the only person who encouraged Hud in his worship.[20] Thus, the Lord raised up Hud as a prophet for the ʿĀd people.[20]

When Hud started preaching and invited them to the worship of only the true God and when he told them to repent for their past sins and ask for mercy and forgiveness, the ʿĀd people began to revile him and wickedly began to mock God's message. Hud's story epitomizes the prophetic cycle common to the early prophets mentioned in the Quran: the prophet is sent to his people to tell them to worship God only and tells them to acknowledge that it is God who is the provider of their blessings[9] The Quran[3] states:

11:50 And to the people of ’Âd We sent their brother Hûd. He said, “O my people! Worship Allah. You have no god other than Him. You do nothing but fabricate lies ˹against Allah˺.

11:51 O my people! I do not ask you for any reward for this ˹message˺. My reward is only from the One Who created me. Will you not then understand?
11:52 And O my people! Seek your Lord’s forgiveness and turn to Him in repentance. He will shower you with rain in abundance, and add strength to your strength. So do not turn away, persisting in wickedness.”
11:53 They argued, “O Hûd! You have not given us any clear proof, and we will never abandon our gods upon your word, nor will we believe in you.
11:54 All we can say is that some of our gods have possessed you with evil.” He said, “I call Allah to witness, and you too bear witness, that I ˹totally˺ reject whatever you associate
11:55 with Him ˹in worship˺. So let all of you plot against me without delay!
11:56 I have put my trust in Allah—my Lord and your Lord. There is no living creature that is not completely under His control. Surely my Lord’s Way is perfect justice.

11:57 But if you turn away, I have already delivered to you what I have been sent with. My Lord will replace you with others. You are not harming Him in the least. Indeed, my Lord is a ˹vigilant˺ Keeper over all things.”

— Surah Hud 11:50-57

Miracle

According to a tafsir from Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya in his book of analysis, Madaarij Saalikeen, which has been quoted by Ibn Abi al-Izz in his syarh (commentary) of Al-Aqida al-Tahawiyya, Hud has a miracle, which is pointed by the verse of 56-58:

(56) "All we can say is that some of our gods have smitten you with evil." He replied:" I call God to witness, and you be witness too, that I am clear of what you associate (in your affairs) ... Apart from Him. Contrive against me as much as you like, and give me no respite.

(57) I place my trust in God who is my Lord and your Lord. There is no creature that moves on the earth who is not held by the forelock firmly by Him. Verily the way of my Lord is straight.

(58) If you turn away, then (remember) I have delivered to you the message I was sent with. My Lord will put other people in your place, and you will not be able to prevail against Him. Indeed my Lord keeps a watch over all things."

— Qur'an, Surah 11 (Hud), Ayat 56–58

Both Ibn Qayyim and Ibn Abi al-Izz, examining this chain of verses as the occurrence when Hud fought alone against entire nation of 'Ad, the entire city was about to harm him both psychologically and physically, only to be defeated by miraculous power shown by Hud, which resulted from his firm belief to the protection from God.[21] Umar Sulaiman Al-Ashqar, a Salafi scholar of Tafsir, quoted this literation in his book,[20] while his brother, Muhammad Sulaiman Al Ashqar, professor of Islamic University of Madinah, also implied his support of this narrative about Hud's miracle, in his own tafsir, Zubdat at Tafsir Min Fath al Qadir.[22] The miracle is further highlighted by Firanda Andirja, lecturer of Al-Masjid al-Haram. According to a tafsir of the whole Surah Hud by scholars, the 'Ad were a powerful empire that preceded the era of Abraham and Nimrod, and they were tyrannically oppressive towards other civilizations at that time.[21]

Calamity upon ʿĀd

After Hud has been left alone by the people of ʿĀd for a long time. The majority of them, however, refused to pay any notice to his teachings and they kept ignoring and mocking all he said. As their aggression, arrogance and idolatry deepened, God, after plenty of warning, sent a thunderous storm to finish the wicked people of ʿĀd once and for all. The destruction of the ʿĀd is described in the Quran:[6]

Then when they saw the torment as a ˹dense˺ cloud approaching their valleys, they said ˹happily˺, “This is a cloud bringing us rain.” ˹But Hûd replied,˺ “No, it is what you sought to hasten: a ˹fierce˺ wind carrying a painful punishment!” It destroyed everything by the command of its Lord, leaving nothing visible except their ruins. This is how We reward the wicked people.

— Surah Al-Ahqaf 46:24-25

The King Saud University from The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stated the interpretation from Al-Tabari of Quran 69:6-129 were narrated about the disaster which caused the extinction of ʿĀd.[23] Wahbah al-Zuhayli, Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid, Imam of Grand Mosque of Mecca, along with the officials of Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance also agreed the verse were speaking about the punishment from God towards ʿĀd peoples.[24]

Meanwhile, another Quran verse that describe further the characteristic of winds that bear calamity were Adh-Dhariyat:

And in ˹the story of˺ ’Âd ˹was another lesson,˺ when We sent against them the devastating wind.

— Surah Adh-Dhariyat 51:41

Exegesis experts translate Ar-Rīḥ al-ʿAqīm (ٱلرِّيْح ٱلْعَقِيْم) literally as "fruitless wind" or "barren wind", a wind that does not bring benefit or any positive reaction to any biological existences.[21] According to Arabic linguists and tafseer experts who examined al-Aqeem, its literal form is "sterile" in this verse's context, which correlates the antithesis of common characteristic of natural winds that usually benefitted the natural cycle, or any biological progressions or reproductions, whether for humans, animals or plants.[21]

In addition for its barren characteristic, another verse also described additional features about the catastrophic tornado which decimated the 'Ad is in Surah Al-Qamar:

Indeed, We sent against them a furious wind, on a day of unrelenting misery,

— Surah Al-Qamar 54:19

Exegesis experts describe ar-Rīḥ ash-Sharshar (ٱلرِّيْح ٱلشَّرْشَر, the cold and harsh wind) as literally freezing yet possess thunderous deafening voice, and according to Tafsir Ibn Kathir, the strength of such punishing winds alone has squeezed the peoples of Ad inside out, until their intestines came out from their rectum and mouths.[21] Nevertheless, modern contemporary scholars such as Al-Tahawi, Wahbah al-Zuhayli, and other scholars from Islamic University of Madinah and Saudi religious ministry has interpreted the verses of Al-Qamar from 18th verse to the 20th verse were narrating the story about the process of the calamity upon ʿĀd.[25][21][26]

In ahadith

There are several hadiths from various chains that became supporting materials regarding Calamity that has fallen upon the ʿĀd peoples, such as:

Place of burial
Maqam of Hud in Jordan, the Levant

Several sites are revered as the tomb of Hud. The most noted site, Qabr Hud, is located in a village in Hadhramaut, Yemen, and is a place of frequent Muslim pilgrimage. Robert Bertram Serjeant, in his study of the pilgrimage rite to the tomb of Hud, verified on the spot[30] the facts related by Al-Harawi,[31]: 97/220–221  who described, at the gate of the Mosque, on the west side, the rock onto which Hud climbed to make the call to prayer, and mentioned the grotto of Balhut at the bottom of the ravine.[1] Around the tomb and neighborhood, various ancient ruins and inscriptions have been found.[32] However, as is often the case with the graves of prophets, other locations have been listed. A possible location for his qabr (Arabic: قَبْر, grave) is said to be near the Zamzam Well in Saudi Arabia,[31]: 86/98  or in the south wall of the Umayyad Mosque in Syria.[31]: 15/38  Some scholars have added that the Masjid has an inscription stating: Haḏā Maqām Hūd (Arabic: هَٰذَا مَقَام هُوْد, "This is (the) Tomb of Hud");[33] others, however, suggest that this belief is a local tradition spewing from the reverence the locals have for Hud.[1]

In other religions

Hud is referred to in the Baháʼí Faith as a Prophet who appeared after Noah and prior to Abraham, who exhorted the people to abandon idolatry and practice monotheism. His endeavors to save His people resulted in their "willful blindness" and His rejection. (The Kitab-i-Iqan, The Book of Certitude, p. 9)[34]

Judaism and Christianity do not venerate Hud as a prophet and, as a figure, he is absent from the Bible. However, there are several pre-Quranic references in Palmyrene inscription to individuals named Hud or possessing a name which is connected to Hud as well as references to the people of ʿĀd.[9] The name Hud also appears in various ancient inscriptions, most commonly in the Hadhramaut region.

See also

Citations
  1. Wensinck, A.J.; Pellat, Ch. (1960–2007). "Hūd" (PDF). In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.). Brill. p. 537. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2920. ISBN 9789004161214.
  2. Quran 7:65-72
  3. Quran 11:50-60
  4. Quran 26:123-139
  5. Quran 38:11-13
  6. Quran 46:21-26
  7. Quran 50:12-14
  8. Quran 54:21-26
  9. Noegel, Scott B.; Wheeler, Brannon M. (2010). "Hud". The A to Z of Prophets in Islam and Judaism. Scarecrow Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-8108-7603-3.
  10. Abdullah Yusuf Ali. The Holy Qur'an: Text, Translation and Commentary. Note 1040.
  11. Ibn Kathir. "Story of Hud". Qisas Al-Anbiya [Stories of the Prophets].
  12. E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913-1936. Vol. 1. Brill. 1987. p. 121. ISBN 90-04-08265-4.
  13. Glassé, Cyril; Smith, Huston (January 2003). "ʿĀd". The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Rowman Altamira. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-7591-0190-6.
  14. Wilford, John Noble (1992-02-05). "On the Trail From the Sky: Roads Point to a Lost City". The New York Times. New York, the United States. Archived from the original on 2019-03-31. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  15. Zarins, Juris (May–June 1997). "Atlantis of the Sands". Archaeology. Vol. 50, no. 3. New York: Archaeological Institute of America. pp. 51–53. Archived from the original on 2019-12-07. Retrieved 2019-11-17.
  16. Blom, Ronald G.; Crippen, Robert; Elachi, Charles; Clapp, Nicholas; Hedges, George R.; Zarins, Juris (2006). Wiseman, James; El-Baz, Farouk (eds.). "Southern Arabian Desert Trade Routes, Frankincense, Myrrh, and the Ubar Legend". Remote Sensing in Archaeology. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Archaeology. New York: Springer: 71–87. doi:10.1007/0-387-44455-6_3. ISBN 978-0-387-44455-0. S2CID 128081354.
  17. Zarins, Juris (September 1996). "Interview with Dr. Juris Zarins". PBS Nova Online (Interview). Archived from the original on 29 May 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2013.
  18. Sijilmāsī, Aḥmad ibn al-Mubārak (2007). Pure gold from the words of Sayyidī ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Dabbāgh = al-Dhabab al-Ibrīz min kalām Sayyidī ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Dabbāgh. John O'Kane, Bernd Radtke. Leiden, the Netherlands. p. 415. ISBN 978-90-474-3248-7. OCLC 310402464.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  19. Quran 26:128-129
  20. Sulaiman al Ashqar, Umar (2018). Pengantar Studi Akidah Islam (in Indonesian). Pustaka al Kautsar. pp. 118, 129, 130, 287. ISBN 9789795928058. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  21. al-Hanafi, Ibn Abi al-Izz (2020). Syarh Aqidah Tahawiyyah (in Arabic). p. primary Madarij al-Salikin by Ibn Qayyim. Retrieved 20 December 2021.Kisah Nabi Hud 'Alaihissalam - Ustadz Dr. Firanda Andirja, M.A. on YouTube
  22. Sulaiman al Ashqar, Muhammad. "Surat Hud 57". Tafsirweb (in Indonesian and Arabic). Translated by Daris Musthofa. Tafsirweb; Ministry of religious Affair of Indonesia; Ministry of Saudi Arabia. p. Original version of Zubdat al Tafsir. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  23. "وَأَمَّا عَادٌ فَأُهْلِكُوا بِرِيحٍ صَرْصَرٍ عَاتِيَةٍ (6)" [التفسير Tafsir (explication) الطبري - As for Aad, they were decimated by a fierce squall wind (6).]. ksu.edu (in Arabic). King Saud University. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  24. Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid; professor Shalih bin Abdullah bin Humaid from Riyadh Tafsir center; Imad Zuhair Hafidz from Markaz Ta'dhim Qur'an Medina; Wahbah al-Zuhayli (2016). "Surat Haqqah ayat 6". Tafsirweb (in Indonesian and Arabic). Islamic University of Madinah; Ministry of Religious Affairs (Indonesia); Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  25. Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid; professor Shalih bin Abdullah bin Humaid; Imad Zuhair Hafidz from Markaz Ta'dhim Qur'an Medina; Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di (2016). "Surat al Qamar 18". Tafsirweb (in Indonesian and Arabic). Islamic University of Madinah; Ministry of Religious Affairs (Indonesia); Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  26. Salih bin Abdullah al Humaid; professor Shalih bin Abdullah bin Humaid; Imad Zuhair Hafidz from Markaz Ta'dhim Qur'an Medina; Abdul-Rahman al-Sa'di; Wahbah al-Zuhayli (2016). "Surat al Qamar 20". Tafsirweb (in Indonesian and Arabic). Islamic University of Madinah; Ministry of Religious Affairs (Indonesia); Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Dawah and Guidance. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  27. Marzuq at-Tarifi, Abd al Aziz (2020). Akidah Salaf Vs Ilmu Kalam Jilid 2 Akidah Al-Khurasaniyyah #2 (in Arabic). Translated by Masturi Irham; Malik Supar. Cipinang Muara, Jakarta, Indonesia: Pustaka al-Kautsar. p. 312 Abu Dawud, Bukhari, Muslim, Nasa'i. ISBN 9789795928553. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  28. Nasiruddin al-Albani, Muhammad (2005). Kurniawan, Harlis (ed.). Ringkasan Shahih Muslim/Mukhtasar Sahih Muslim (in Indonesian and Arabic). Translated by Elly Lathifah. Gema Insani. p. 220. ISBN 9795619675. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  29. al-Bukhari, Muhammad. "الموسوعة الحديثية". Dorar. p. Book: Prophets - كتاب أحاديث الأنبياء Global Id: 3210 (0) Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 3343. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  30. Serjeant, Robert Bertram (1954). "Hud and Other Pre-islamic Prophets in Hadhramawt". Le Muséon. Peeters Publishers. 67: 129.
  31. Al-Harawi, Ali ibn Abi Bakr. Kitab al-Isharat ila Ma rifat al-Ziyarat [Book of indications to make known the places of visitations].
  32. van der Meulen, Daniel [in Dutch]; von Wissmann, Hermann (1964). Hadramaut: Some of its mysteries unveiled. Publication of the De Goeje Fund no. 9. (1st ed.). Leiden: E.J. Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-00708-6.
  33. Ibn Battuta. Rihla [The Travels]. i, 205; ii, 203.
  34. Baháʼuʼlláh. Book of Certitude. Forgotten Books. ISBN 1605060933.

Bibliography

References in the Qur'an

Further reading
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