Muhammad ibn Ishaq said: He was the grandfather of ‘Ad: ‘Ad ibn Aws ibn Iram ibn Shem ibn Noah (1).

Al-Kalbi said: “Iram is the one to whom the lineage of ‘Ad, Thamud, and the people of Upper Mesopotamia converges. It used to be said: ‘Ad of Iram and Thamud of Iram. Allah destroyed ‘Ad, then Thamud, while the people of the Sawad and Upper Mesopotamia remained. They were people of tent-poles and tents, with livestock that roamed in the spring. When the vegetation dried up, they returned to their dwellings. They possessed gardens and crops, and their homes were in the Valley of al-Qura. It is concerning them that Allah says:

‘The like of which had never been created in the lands (8), and Thamud, who carved out the rocks in the valley (9), and Pharaoh, lord of the stakes (10).’

‘The like of which had never been created in the lands’: they were called “of lofty pillars” (2) for this reason, because they were people of portable tent-poles. This was the view of Qatadah, Mujahid, and al-Kalbi, and it is also narrated from Ibn ‘Abbas through ‘Ata’. Others said that they were called “of lofty pillars” because of their great stature. Ibn ‘Abbas said: That is, their height was like pillars. Muqatil said: Each of them stood twelve cubits tall. His saying, ‘The like of which had never been created in the lands,’ means that no tribe like that tribe had been created in stature and strength. They were the ones who said, ‘Who is stronger than us in might?’

It was also said that they were called “of lofty pillars” because of a structure that one of them built, constructing it solidly there (3) and raising it high. It is said that Shaddad ibn ‘Ad built it in a manner the like of which had never been created in the world. He then set out toward it with his people, but when he was only a day-and-night’s journey away from it, Allah sent a blast from heaven upon him and those with him, destroying them all.

‘And Thamud’: that is, and with Thamud; ‘who carved out the rocks’: that is, they cut the stone, whose singular is a rock; ‘in the valley’: meaning, the Valley of al-Qura (4). They would cut into the mountains and make houses within them. Ibn Kathir and Ya‘qub retained the final ya in “the valley” both in connected recitation and when pausing, in accordance with the original form. Warsh retained it in connected recitation, while the others omitted it in both cases, in conformity with the verse-endings.

‘And Pharaoh, lord of the stakes’: he was called this because he used to torture people with stakes, and indeed