Genealogy — From Adam to Hud
According to al-Tabari’s “History of Prophets and Kings” (Tarikh al-Tabari) — the foundational Islamic chronicle drawing on Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat and earlier Arab genealogical traditions — the line from Adam to Hud runs through the post-Flood reconstruction of humanity:
Adam → Shith (Seth) → Anush → Qeynan → Mahla’il → Yared → Idris (Enoch) → Matushalakh → Lamak → Nuh (Noah)
After the Flood, Nuh had three sons: Sam (Shem), Ham, and Yafith (Japheth). From Sam descended the Semitic peoples, including the Arabs. The line continues:
Nuh → Sam (Shem) → Arfakhshad (Arpachshad) → Shalakh (Shelah) → ‘Abir (Eber) → Faligh
And from a collateral branch: ‘Abir (Eber) → Qahtan — from Qahtan descended the Arab tribes of the southern Arabian Peninsula, including the ancient ‘Adites.
Hud (AS) was a descendant of Sam through the line of the ancient Arabs — his specific genealogy in the Arabic tradition is: Hud ibn ‘Ibad ibn Khalud ibn ‘Ad ibn ‘Aws ibn Iram ibn Sam ibn Nuh. This places him as a descendant of ‘Ad (the eponymous ancestor of the ‘Ad people) who was a grandson of Sam.
See also: Prophet Musa, Prophet Shuaib, Sayyidna Ibrahim
The People of ‘Ad — A Mighty Civilization
The ‘Ad were one of the ancient Arab peoples of the pre-Islamic era (al-‘Arab al-ba’idah — the vanished Arabs, those who entirely perished). The Quran describes them with notable language:
“Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with ‘Ad — [the people of] Iram — who had lofty pillars, the likes of whom had never been created in the land?” (89:6-8)
Physical characteristics: The ‘Ad are associated in Islamic tradition with exceptional physical stature and power. One narrative tradition describes them as tall of body and formidable in strength — hence the later Arabic proverbial expression for a powerful person, often comparing them to the ‘Ad.
Architectural achievement: The reference to “lofty pillars” (dhatu al-‘imad) suggests a civilization of significant builders. The city of Iram (sometimes identified with a legendary “City of Pillars”) was associated with the ‘Ad.
Geographic location: The Quran places the ‘Ad in al-Ahqaf (46:21) — the plural of haqf (a sand dune), suggesting a region of sand formations. This is generally identified with the Rub’ al-Khali (Empty Quarter) region of the Arabian Peninsula, possibly corresponding to the ancient kingdom of Hadramaut in southern Arabia/Yemen.
Their prosperity: The ‘Ad enjoyed prosperity — fertile lands, water sources, abundant cattle and crops. Hud’s call reminds them: “[Remember] when He made you successors after the people of Nuh and increased you in stature extensively.” (7:69)
Hud’s Message
Hud’s message was structurally identical to all the prophetic messages: call to tawhid, warning against shirk, promise of reward for faith, and warning of divine punishment for rejection.
“And to ‘Ad [We sent] their brother Hud. He said: ‘O my people, worship Allah; you have no deity other than Him. Then will you not fear Him?’” (7:65)
The specific emphasis of Hud’s call: Hud’s people prided themselves on their strength. “Who is stronger than us?” they asked (41:15). Hud’s counter:
“And remember when He made you successors after the people of Nuh and increased you in stature extensively. So remember the favors of Allah that you might succeed.” (7:69)
This is a classic prophetic move: you are not the source of your own strength. The strength the ‘Ad prided themselves on was itself a divine gift — the divine “increased you in stature.” Pride in one’s own physical or civilizational achievements, when it leads to rejection of the divine, is the precise form of kibr that brought down the ‘Ad.
Hud’s specific promise if they believe: “And O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord and then repent to Him. He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in showers and add strength to your strength.” (11:52) — The divine’s blessing upon the believer includes material abundance: the believer who trusts the divine does not lose prosperity but gains it through divine grace.
The People’s Rejection
The ‘Ad rejected Hud’s message with a specific accusation: “We will not leave our gods on your word, and we are not believers in you. We only say that some of our gods have struck you with evil.” (11:54-55)
The accusation of madness or divine punishment: The ‘Ad claimed Hud was afflicted by his own gods — that his message was a sign of divine disfavor rather than divine commission. This is a recurring pattern of prophetic rejection: when the messenger’s message is uncomfortable, the audience reverses the frame and claims the messenger himself is the problematic one.
Their attachment to ancestral practice: “They said: ‘Have you come to us that we should worship Allah alone and leave what our fathers worshipped?’” (7:70) — The ‘Ad’s refusal was rooted in the conservatism of ancestral worship: changing the religion of their forefathers was unthinkable to them.
Hud’s response to the accusation: “I call Allah to witness, and you witness, that I am free from what you associate with Allah besides Him. So plot against me all together; then do not give me respite.” (11:54-55) — Hud’s declaration of bara’a (disavowal) from shirk, combined with a fearless challenge: he has no fear of their schemes because his trust is entirely in the divine.
The Punishment — The Devastating Wind
“So We sent upon them a furious wind during days of misfortune to make them taste the punishment of humiliation in the worldly life; but the punishment of the Hereafter is more humiliating, and they will not be helped.” (41:16)
“As for ‘Ad, they were arrogant upon the earth without right and said: ‘Who is greater than us in strength?’ Did they not see that Allah who created them was greater than them in strength? But they were rejecting Our signs.” (41:15)
The punishment of the ‘Ad was a rih ‘aqim (a barren wind — 51:41) or rih sarsar (a freezing, howling wind — 41:16; 69:6): a devastating storm that lasted seven nights and eight days (69:7) and destroyed everything the ‘Ad had built.
“So the people of ‘Ad — Allah destroyed them by a screaming, violent wind which He imposed upon them for seven nights and eight days in succession, so you would see the people therein fallen as if they were hollow trunks of palm trees.” (69:6-7)
The specificity of the punishment: As with each prophetic community in the Quran, the punishment is calibrated to the crime. The ‘Ad prided themselves on their physical power and their architectural achievement. The wind destroyed both: it killed the people with their physical strength and leveled their buildings. The pride in power met a power that made them look like “hollow trunks of palm trees.”
Hud and the Believers — Saved
“And when Our command came, We saved Hud and those who believed with him, by mercy from Us; and We saved them from a harsh punishment.” (11:58)
Hud and his small community of believers were saved while the vast majority of the ‘Ad perished. This is the consistent pattern of the Quranic prophetic narrative: the prophet and a remnant believe; the majority reject; the divine’s punishment comes upon the rejecters while the believers are preserved.
The believers of the ‘Ad became the ancestors of later Arabian peoples — the tradition holds that from the surviving community came the later ‘Arab tribes of southern Arabia.
The People of Hud — Evidence and Archaeology
Modern scholarship has identified the ‘Ad with ancient southern Arabian cultures. One remarkable claim: the satellite discovery in the 1990s of a buried ancient city in the Rub’ al-Khali region (called “Ubar” in ancient sources, possibly corresponding to “Iram” of the Quran) has been linked by some researchers to the ‘Adites, though this identification remains debated among archaeologists.
Ta’wil of Hud’s Message
The zahir of Hud’s message is the call to tawhid — worship the one divine, abandon the idols of the ancestors, and receive divine blessing in return for faith.
The batin of Hud’s message is the universal challenge of every generation: who is stronger than us? is the question every civilization asks at its peak. The ‘Ad’s specific sin was not power itself but the attribution of power to themselves rather than to the divine who gave it. The batin of Hud’s call: every human achievement — physical, intellectual, architectural, civilizational — is a divine gift. To take pride in it as one’s own is the ‘Adite mistake.
In the Ismaili ta’wil: the wind that destroyed the ‘Ad (rih ‘aqim — a barren wind, one that carries no rain, brings no fertility, creates nothing) corresponds to the soul’s condition when walayah is absent. The soul without the Imam’s ta’wil is like the barren wind: energetic but sterile, powerful but without the divine’s creative fertility. The soul with the Imam’s ta’wil is like the fruitful rain that Hud promised: “He will send [rain from] the sky upon you in showers.”
Source: al-Tabari, “History of Prophets and Kings” (Tarikh al-Tabari); Quran: Surah Hud (11:50-60), al-A’raf (7:65-72), al-Ahqaf (46:21-26), al-Haqqah (69:6-8), al-Fajr (89:6-8); Ibn Kathir, “Stories of the Prophets” (Qisas al-Anbiya’); Arabic genealogical traditions.
See also: Prophet Salih, Sayyidna Ibrahim, Prophet Musa, Tawhid Divine Unity, Adl, Tawadu, Iblis The Fall