ʿĀd(Arabic: عَاد‎,ʿĀd) was an ancient tribe mentioned frequently in the Qurʾan.^[1]

ʿĀd is usually placed in Southern Arabia,^[2]in a location referred to asal-ʾAḥq̈āf(“the Sandy Plains,” or “the Wind-curved Sand-hills”).^[1][3]The tribe’s members, referred to as ʿĀdites, formed a prosperous nation until they were destroyed in a violent storm. According to Islamic tradition, the storm came after they had rejected the teachings of aMonotheisticprophet namedHud.^[1][2]ʿĀd is regarded as one of the original Arab tribes, the “lost Arabs”. Their capital may have been what is known as “Iram of the Pillars” in the Qurʾan although that may have been the name of a region or a people.^[4][2][5]

In religious stories, Hud and the tribe of ʿĀd have been linked to a legendary king namedʿĀd, who ruled over a region whose capital was “Wūbar”.^[6]

There are 24 mentions of ʿĀd in the Qurʾan, namely (7:65:2) (the second word of Surah 7, Verse 65), (7:74:7), (9:70:9), (11:50:2), (11:59:2), (11:60:10), (11:60:15), (14:9:9), (22:42:8), (25:38:1), (26:123:2), (29:38:1), (38:12:5), (40:31:5), (41:13:8), (41:15:2), (46:21:3), (50:13:1), (51:41:2), (53:50:3), (54:18:2), (69:4:3), (69:6:2) and (89:6:6).^[7]