The messenger prayed, “My Lord! Help me, because they have denied ˹me˺.”23:39

Then the ˹mighty˺ blast overtook them with justice, and We reduced them to rubble. So away with the wrongdoing people!23:41

Allah responded, “Soon they will be truly regretful.”23:40

It destroyed everything by the command of its Lord, leaving nothing visible except their ruins. This is how We reward the wicked people.46:25

He responded, “The knowledge ˹of its time˺ is only with Allah. I only convey to you what I have been sent with. But I can see that you are a people acting ignorantly.”46:23

They argued, “Have you come to turn us away from our gods? Bring us then whatever you threaten us with, if what you say is true.”46:22

And remember the brother of ’Ȃd, when he warned his people, who inhabited the sand-hills—there were certainly warners before and after him—˹saying,˺ “Worship none but Allah. I truly fear for you the torment of a tremendous day.”46:21

Then when they saw the torment as a ˹dense˺ cloud approaching their valleys, they said ˹happily˺, “This is a cloud bringing us rain.” ˹But Hûd replied,˺ “No, it is what you sought to hasten: a ˹fierce˺ wind carrying a painful punishment!”46:24

which Allah unleashed on them non-stop for seven nights and eight days, so that you would have seen its people lying dead like trunks of uprooted palm trees.69:7

The people of Ad firstly were punished by wanting rain, suffering in a drought and famine. They asked their gods for rain and when they saw clouds in the sky they thought it was rain bringing them relief from their gods. However, this rain was that of destruction and not of hope as they wished it was.

And as for ’Ȃd, they were destroyed by a furious, bitter wind69:6

The rain went on as the verse describes unceasingly, with no respite. The people of Ad are likened to the stumps of palm trees because the wind would come to one of them, lift them and then bring them back down onto their heads - their bodies were left with no heads.

’Ȃd ˹also˺ rejected ˹the truth˺. Then how ˹dreadful˺ were My punishment and warnings!54:18

that snatched people up, leaving them like trunks of uprooted palm trees.54:20

Indeed, We sent against them a furious wind, on a day of unrelenting misery,54:19

We see a similar verse here.

And in ˹the story of˺ ’Âd ˹was another lesson,˺ when We sent against them the devastating wind.51:41

There was nothing it came upon that it did not reduce to ashes.51:42

They were followed by a curse in this world, as they will be on the Day of Judgment. Surely ’Âd denied their Lord. So away with ’Âd, the people of Hûd.11:60

The cloud and winds that were sent to them were destructive. It is possible that this was a raging, fatal, immensely cloud wind that did not escape them. This force destroyed their landmarks and monuments - the very ones they had used to boast their strength and power advocating that no one else was more powerful than them.

When Our command came, We rescued Hûd and those who believed with him by a mercy from Us, saving them from a harsh torment.11:58

That was ’Âd. They denied the signs of their Lord, disobeyed His messengers, and followed the command of every stubborn tyrant.11:59

We are told in a narration by Aisha that whenever our Prophet ﷺ saw dark clouds or wind "(the signs of fear) were depicted on his face. I said: Messenger of Allah, I find people being happy when they face the dark cloud in the hope that it would bring rain, but I find that when you see that (the cloud) there is an anxiety on your face. He said: 'A'isha, I am afraid that there may be a calamity in it, for a people was afflicted with wind, when the people saw the calamity they said:" It is a cloud which would give us rain" [Muslim 899]