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ʿĀd was an ancient tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. The banū ʿĀd are best known for being mentioned two dozen times in the Quran, often in conjunction with Thamud. In 2025 it was shown that 'Ad was a tribe that existed two millennia ago in the Wadi Rum region of the southern Jordan.

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ʿĀd (Arabic: عاد, ʿĀd) was an ancient tribe in pre-Islamic Arabia. The banū ʿĀd (people of ʿĀd) are best known for being mentioned two dozen times in the Quran, often in conjunction with Thamud. In 2025 it was shown that 'Ad was a tribe that existed two millennia ago in the Wadi Rum region of the southern Jordan.

The tribe's members, the ʿĀdites, formed a prosperous nation until they were destroyed by a violent storm. According to Islamic tradition, the storm came after they had rejected the teachings of a monotheistic prophet named Hud. 'Ad is regarded as one of the original tribes of Arabia, "The Extinct Arabs".

Etymology

There is a possibility that the tribal name ʿĀd represents a misinterpretation of a common noun: the expression min al-ʿād is today understood to mean "since the time of ʿĀd", but ʿād might originally have been a common noun meaning 'antiquity', which was reinterpreted as a proper noun, inspiring of the tribe 'Ad in Islamic conception.

Article from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), where it is maintained by volunteer editors.

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