The first person to see what the cloud contained and to realize that it was a wind of destruction—so they relate—was a woman from ʿĀd named Qahd(1). When she grasped what it held she screamed and fell unconscious. When she came to, they asked, “What did you see, O Qahd?” She answered, “I saw a wind with sparks like flaming meteors, and in front of it were men driving it.” God then subjected that wind to them for seven nights and eight consecutive days—ḥusūm, meaning unceasing—so it left no one from ʿĀd alive.

It is reported that Hūd ﷺ withdrew to an enclosure along with those believers who were with him; nothing reached them except a breeze that softened their skins and delighted their souls. Meanwhile the wind swept over ʿĀd, carrying camel-litters between heaven and earth and battering them with stones, and he went on to relate the rest of the story(2).

Imām Aḥmad has transmitted in his Musnad a ḥadīth resembling this account. He said(3): “Zayd ibn al-Hubāb narrated to us; Abū al-Mundhir Sallām ibn Sulaymān al-Naḥawī narrated to us; ʿĀṣim ibn Abī al-Najūd narrated to us, from Abū Wāʾil, from al-Ḥārith—who is Ibn Ḥassān, and some say Ibn Yazīd al-Bakrī—who said:

‘I set out to complain about al-ʿAlāʾ ibn al-Ḥaḍramī to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. I passed through al-Rabadhah and came upon an elderly woman from Banū Tamīm who had been left behind. She said, “Servant of Allah, I have a need with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ; will you convey me to him?” So I mounted her and brought her to Madinah. We arrived to find the mosque packed, a black banner flapping, and Bilāl standing before the Messenger of Allah ﷺ with a sword slung across his shoulder. I asked, “What is happening?” They said, “He intends to dispatch ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ on a mission.” I sat down.

‘He then entered his house—or, he said, his tent—so I sought permission to enter. Permission was given; I entered and greeted him. He asked, “Was there anything between you and Banū Tamīm?” I replied, “Yes; victory was ours over them. And on the way I found an elderly woman from Banū Tamīm who was stranded; she asked me to bring her to you and she is now at the door.” He granted her permission, and she entered.

‘I said, “O Messenger of Allah, if you think it appropriate to set a barrier between us and Banū Tamīm, then make ad-Dahnāʾ that barrier, for it used to belong to us.” The old woman flared up and sprang forward, saying, “O Messenger of Allah, where then will you drive Muḍar?” I said, “I am like the saying of the earlier poet: ‘A nanny-goat carried her own death.’ I carried this woman without realizing she would turn out to be my opponent. I seek refuge in Allah and His Messenger from becoming like the delegate of ʿĀd.”

‘He said, “Ah, and who was the delegate of ʿĀd?”—though he knew the story better than I, but he wished me to relate it.

‘I said, “ʿĀd were stricken by drought, so they sent a delegate named Qayl. He stopped with Muʿāwiya ibn Bakr and stayed a full month while Muʿāwiya plied him with wine and two singing girls called ‘the Locusts’ entertained him. When the month ended he set off for the mountains of Tihāmah(4) and said:

‘O Allah, You know that I did not come to tend a sick man nor to ransom a captive. O Allah, give ʿĀd the rain You used to send them.’”