and the delegation of Aad left Mecca until they passed by Muawiyah ibn Bakr and lodged with him. While they were with him, a man approached on a she-camel on a moonlit night—the third evening of Aad’s calamity—and informed them of what had happened. They asked him, “Where did you part from Hud and his companions?” He replied, “I left them by the seashore.” It was as though they doubted his report, so Huzaylah bint Bakr said, “He has spoken the truth, by the Lord of Mecca.”

It is related that when Marthad ibn Sad, Luqman ibn Aad, and Qayl ibn Anz supplicated in Mecca, they were told, “You have been granted your wishes, so choose for yourselves. Yet there is no way to attain immortality; death is inevitable.” Marthad said, “O Allah, grant me truthfulness and righteousness,” and he was granted that. Luqman said, “My Lord, grant me a lifespan.” He was told, “Choose,” so he chose the lifespan of seven vultures. Whenever a chick hatched from its egg, he would take the male one because of its greater strength; when it died, he would take another. He continued doing this until he had lived through the seventh vulture. Each vulture lived eighty years, and the last of them was Labad. When Labad died, Luqman died with it.

As for Qayl, he said, “I choose that what befell my people should also befall me.” He was told, “That is destruction.” But he said, “I do not care; I have no wish to remain after them.” Thus, the punishment that struck Aad struck him as well, and he perished.

Al-Suddi said: Allah sent the barren wind against Aad. When it drew near to them, they saw camels and men being carried through the air between heaven and earth by the wind. When they saw it, they hastened into their houses, entered them, and shut their doors. But the wind came and tore their doors away, entered upon them, and destroyed them inside. Then it brought them out of their houses. After Allah had destroyed them, He sent black birds against them, which carried them to the sea and cast them into it.

It is also related that Allah commanded the wind to heap sand over them. They remained beneath the sand for seven nights and eight days, groaning beneath it. Then He commanded the wind, and it uncovered the sand from them, carried them away, and cast them into the sea. No wind has ever been released except in a measured amount, apart from that day: it rebelled against its keepers and overcame them, so they did not know what its measure was.

A hadith states: “It came forth against them through an opening no larger than that of a ring” (1). It is related from Ali—may Allah be pleased with him—that the grave of Hud, peace be upon him, is in Hadramawt, in a red sand dune. Abd al-Rahman ibn Sabit said: “Between the Corner, the Station of Abraham, and Zamzam are the graves of ninety-nine prophets. The graves of Hud, Shuayb, Salih, and Ishmael, peace be upon them, are in that place.”

It is also reported that whenever the people of a prophet were destroyed, he and the righteous believers with him would come to Mecca, worship Allah there, and remain there until they died.