Al-Haaqqa (The Reality)

6. And as for ‘Àd, they were destroyed by a furious violent gale!

The blessed Verse proceeds with the dire fate of the people of ‘Àd who inhabited the land of Ahqaf in the Yemen in the Arabian Peninsula. They were tall of stature and robust and had verdant lands and fertile gardens. Their Prophet was Hud (as).

They were so disobedient that God Almighty sent them an excruciating torment, as mentioned in these blessed Verses, and caused their perdition.

The blessed Verse is saying:

“And as for ‘Àd, they were destroyed by a furious, violent, and venomous gale.” The Arabic word sarsar is applied to cold, harsh, and venomous gales. The three meanings are mentioned by Qur’an exegetes and the word may imply their entirety. The Arabic feminine adjectival form ‘atiya, deriving from ‘-t-w (“to be raging”), denotes raging (of storms and gales) and uncontrollable, disobedient to the norms of regular winds and breezes rather than disobedient to God Almighty.