Afir, who had secretly believed in Hud, said: “By Allah, you will not be granted rain through your supplication. Rather, if you obey your Prophet and turn back in repentance to your Lord, you will be given rain.” Thereupon, he openly professed his Islam and said:

“Aad disobeyed their Messenger, and so they came to be …
Thirsty, with no rain from heaven to moisten them.
They have an idol called Sumud, facing which are Sada and al-Haba;
But the Messenger showed us the way of right guidance,
So we saw the guidance, and blindness was dispelled.
Indeed, the God of Hud is my God;
In Allah are my reliance and my hope.”

They said to Mu'awiyah ibn Bakr, “Keep Marthad ibn Sa'd from us, so that he will not come with us to Mecca, for he has followed the religion of Hud and abandoned our religion.” They then went forth to Mecca to pray for rain for Aad. When they set out for Mecca, Marthad ibn Sa'd left Mu'awiyah’s house and caught up with them before they had supplicated Allah for anything of that for which they had set out. When he reached them, he stood and supplicated Allah, while the delegation of Aad was also supplicating there. He said, “O Allah, grant me alone what I ask of You, and do not include me in anything for which the delegation of Aad supplicates You.”

Qayl ibn Anz was the leader of the delegation of Aad, and the delegation said, “O Allah, grant Qayl what he asks of You, and make our request part of his request.”

Luqman ibn Aad, the chief of Aad, had remained behind from the delegation of Aad when they supplicated. Once they had finished their supplication, he arose and said, “O Allah, I have come to You alone regarding my need, so grant me what I ask.” He asked Allah for a long life, and so he lived the lifespan of seven vultures. Qayl ibn Anz said when he supplicated, “O our God, if Hud is truthful, then give us rain, for we have perished.”

Allah then brought forth three clouds: a white one, a red one, and a black one. Then a caller from among the clouds called out to him, “[O Qayl] (1), choose for yourself and your people from among these clouds [whatever you wish] (2).” Qayl said: ⦗132/a⦘ “I choose the black cloud, for it contains the most water.” A caller then called out to him, “You have chosen dark ash, which will not leave a single one of the people of Aad alive.”

Allah drove the black cloud that Qayl had chosen, bearing the punishment within it, towards Aad, until it emerged upon them from a valley of theirs called al-Mughith. When they saw it, they rejoiced and said, “This is a passing cloud that will bring us rain.” Allah, Exalted is He, says:

“Rather, it is what you sought to hasten: a wind containing a painful punishment, destroying everything by the command of its Lord.”

Surah al-Ahqaf, 46:24–25.

That is, everything it passed over.

The first person to see what it contained and recognize that it was a destructive wind was a woman of Aad named Muhaddad. When she perceived what it contained, she screamed and then fell unconscious. When she regained consciousness, they asked her, “What did you see?” She said, “I saw a wind containing what looked like fiery meteors, with men before it driving it onward.”

So Allah subjected it against them for seven nights and eight consecutive days. It did not leave a single one of the people of Aad without destroying him. Hud and the believers with him withdrew into an enclosure, and the wind did not touch him or those with him except as a gentle breeze that softened their skin and refreshed their souls. It would sweep past the Aadites with their travelling women, carry them between heaven and earth, and dash them against stones,