Surah ash-Shu`ara' (The Poets ) 26 : 123

Overview (Verses 123 - 129)

Power and a Sense of Immortality

The Prophet Hūd’s people lived in al-Aĥqāf, an area of extensive sand dunes not far from Ĥadramowt and in the direction of Yemen. They lived sometime after Noah, and were one of the communities that deviated from the right way sometime after the flood that punished Noah’s people.

Hūd’s story was told in more detail in Sūrah 7, The Heights, and Sūrah 11, Hūd. It is also mentioned in .Sūrah 23, The Believers, without mentioning the names of Had or his community. The story here is summed up between Hūd’s address to his community that encouraged them to believe in God’s oneness and the end they faced as God’s punishment befell them. The story of Had and his people has the same beginning as Noah’s story:

The `Ād, too, denied God’s messengers. Their brother Hid said to them: Will you have no fear of God? I am a Messenger [sent by Him] to you, worthy of all trust. So, fear God and pay heed to me. No reward whatever do I ask of you for it: my reward is only from the Lord of all the worlds. (Verses 123-127)

It is the same message given by every messenger of God: it is a call to believe in God alone and to fear Him and obey His messenger. This is coupled with a declaration disclaiming any interest in worldly luxuries or position the people may have to offer. This puts things in the right perspective. The messenger seeks nothing from them, but instead he looks to God for his reward.

Had follows this declaration by examining their own particular conditions and behaviour. He criticizes the fact that they build lofty buildings to demonstrate their ability, taking pride in their wealth. He denounces their arrogance which results from their material power and the resources that enable them to use different forces and means, in total disregard of God, oblivious to the fact of their accountability to Him: “Do you build a landmark on every high place, in a vain endeavour, and make for yourselves strong structures, hoping to be immortal?” (Verses 128-129)

It seems that they used to build on high places so as to make such structures appear from a distance as grand landmarks. They did so to emphasize their superiority and great ability. Hence the Qur’ān describes it as a vain endeavour’. Had it been intended as a landmark or a sign to show direction, it would not have been described as such. The Qur’ānic statement, then, implies the need to direct one’s resources and abilities to what is of benefit, not merely to show off and demonstrate abilities and wealth. It also appears that the people of `Ād were well advanced in industry, using machinery to carve positions for their palaces which they built on mountains. This is indicated in Hūd’s saying to them: “and [you] make for yourselves strong structures, hoping to be immortal?” (Verse 129) It even occurred to them that such strong structures built with the use of heavy machinery could spare their lives, and protect them from severe atmospheric conditions as also from enemy attack.