Translation
And to (the community of) A’d was Hud, a member of their community [brother] who said: “O my people, worship and serve God alone; you have no deity save Him. You are but fabricators (in conjuring deities)! O, my people, I seek no gains from you. My reward is from God alone Who created me. Do you not then comprehend? O my people, ask forgiveness from your Sustainer God and then align with Him. He will shower His blessings in abundance [open up the sky] and increase your strength; therefore, do not turn away as people practicing evil.”
They (his community) said: “O Hud, you have brought us no arguments to convince us and we are not going to abandon our gods for the sake of what you say. We do not believe you. We have nothing more to say than that our gods have touched you with evils.” He (Hud) replied: “I call upon God to witness (what you say) and you too are witness to the fact that I am innocent of what you associate (as divine) with God, and besides Him. Therefore, make your plan against me and give to no leeway. I put my trust and reliance on God, my Sustainer, and your Sustainer. There is no living creature that is not in His control [within his grasp by its neck, forelock] and my Sustainer God leads to the right way. But if you ignore me, then be aware that I have delivered to you what I have been sent for and my Sustainer God will replace you with another community. You can do Him no harm. He protects and preserves all things (as He sees fit).
When it was time to execute Our [God’s]command, We spared Hud and those who believed with him through Our Mercy and We delivered them from severe consequences (that came to his community). Such was the condition of ‘Ad. They denied the message from their Sustainer God and refused to follow His [God’s] Messengers; instead, they did the bidding of those who were tyrants and defiant (of truth and goodness). So, they were overwhelmed with the negative consequence [curse] in this world and (a similar fate awaits them) on the Day of Resurrection. The tribe of ‘Ad certainly denied the truth about God (and goodness) and they were done with (as a result), ‘Ad, the community of Hud. 498
Interpreation
498 Pure monotheism is fundamental to the Islamic concept of God and His control of the created world. Generations of prophets have been sent to various communities at different times and in different places to remind people of this fundamental truth and to align with God in truth and goodness. Hud was a prophet and a member of the community of ‘Ad, considered a community that came after Noah, and resided in the southern part of Arabia, between the valley of Hadramawt and Oman. The story of Hud and his people are not mentioned in the Bible, unless we assume that Eber in the Bible is the same as Hud, but it occurs in several places in the Qur’an—7:65–72, 26:123–140, 46:21–28, 54:18–22—with different level of details and nuances. The sequence of events follows a pattern with many of the prophets and their communities: (1) a prophet from the within the community who is inspired by God to speak against false gods, social evils, and false ideals about the human condition and human purpose, (2) most people, especially those who have power and wealth, feel threatened and oppose such ideals of truth and justice, and even force other people to act against such a prophet, (3) the prophet and their followers, typically a small segment of the community, plead for reasonable treatment and freedom to follow their ideals, but (4) instead, they are oppressed and sometimes forced to come back to worship false deities and continue the corruptions and evils of the society by their leaders and fellow community members, and (5) once the case is proven that the community, with few exceptions, is unwilling to follow the prophet and instead actively opposes such ideals of faith, truth, and justice, God’s intervention follows, as a natural consequence of protecting the truth and restoring justice in the world.
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REFLECTION
The people of ‘Ad were enabled with superior capabilities, power, and wealth unlike many other communities but eventually succumbed to their evils and abuse of power, something that we see even in recent times with Hitler, Communist Russia, autocratic rulers in the Middle East, and corrupt leaders in Africa and Asia. In recent days, our own country here in the United States has fallen short of such ideals and runs the risk of losing our moral ground and global alliance for truth and justice if our citizens, our institutions, and our legal systems do not rise to the occasion to restore democracy, the rule of law, truth, and goodness in our society and in our conduct with all people.
ACTION
There is a constant call for each generation to help restore truth and justice and to prove its worth to God and to fellow human beings, without which our individual and collective humanity is diminished, and we fail to fulfill our stewardship of this planet and our precious life as designated by God.