“Filth and wrath have already overtaken you! Are you arguing with me about names that you and your fathers have coined, for which Allah has sent down no authority? Then wait; I too am among those who wait.” (al-Aʿrāf 7:71)

That is to say, by these words you have earned impurity and the anger of Allah. Will you set the worship of Allah alone—without partner—against the worship of idols that you yourselves have carved and called gods, names you and your fathers agreed upon although Allah has sent down no proof for them? Since you have refused to accept the truth and persisted in falsehood, whether I forbid you or not is all the same to you. Therefore wait for Allah’s punishment to descend upon you—His might cannot be repelled and His chastisement cannot be fended off.

Allah the Exalted also says:
“My Lord,” he said, “help me, for they have denied me.” He said, “In a little while they will surely be remorseful.” So the Blast seized them in truth, and We made them like scum upon a stream. Away then with the wrongdoing people! (al-Muʾminūn 23:39-41)

And He says:
“They said, ‘Have you come to turn us away from our gods? Then bring us what you threaten us with, if you are truthful.’ He said, ‘Knowledge lies only with Allah; I convey to you what I have been sent with, but I see that you are an ignorant people.’ When they saw it advancing toward their valleys as a cloud, they said, ‘This cloud will bring us rain!’ Rather, it is what you sought to hasten—a wind containing painful punishment, destroying everything by the command of its Lord, so that nothing could be seen but their dwellings. Thus do We recompense the guilty people.” (al-Aḥqāf 46:22-25)

Allah has mentioned their destruction in many other verses, both briefly and in detail, such as His words:
“We delivered him and those with him by a mercy from Us, and cut off to the last those who denied Our signs; they were not believers.” (al-Aʿrāf 7:72)

and:
“When Our command came, We saved Hūd and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, and We saved them from a harsh torment. And that was ʿĀd: they denied the signs of their Lord, disobeyed His messengers, and followed the command of every obstinate tyrant. A curse was made to follow them in this world and on the Day of Resurrection. Surely ʿĀd disbelieved in their Lord—away then with ʿĀd, the people of Hūd!” (Hūd 11:58-60)

Likewise His saying:
“So the Blast seized them in truth, and We made them like scum. Away then with the wrongdoing people!” (al-Muʾminūn 23:41)

and:
“They denied him, so We destroyed them. In that is a sign, yet most of them were not believers; and your Lord is indeed the All-Mighty, the Merciful.” (ash-Shuʿarāʾ 26:139-140)

As for the detailed account of their annihilation, Allah says:
“When they saw it as a cloud advancing toward their valleys, they said, ‘This cloud will bring us rain!’ Rather, it is what you sought to hasten—a wind containing painful punishment.” (al-Aḥqāf 46:24)

Their punishment began when they were suffering a severe drought and famine; they begged for rain, and when they saw a cloud in the sky they assumed it was a cloud of mercy—but it proved to be a cloud of torment. Hence Allah’s words, “Rather, it is what you sought to hasten,” meaning the punishment they had demanded when they said, “Bring us what you threaten us with if you are truthful,” as likewise appears in al-Aʿrāf.

The exegetes, among them Imām Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Yasār, relate the following report: when they persisted in unbelief, Allah withheld the rain from them for three years until the hardship became unbearable. He said: Whenever the people