A Warning to the Disbelievers and a Reminder of the Story of `Ad and Thamud

Allah says: `Say, O Muhammad, to these idolators who disbelieve in the message of truth that you have brought: If you turn away from that which I have brought to you from Allah, then I warn you of the punishment of Allah like the punishment that the past nations suffered for disbelieving in the Messengers.'

صَـعِقَةً مِّثْلَ صَـعِقَةِ عَادٍ وَثَمُودَ

فَأَرْ‌سَلْنَا عَلَيْهِمْ رِ‌يحًا صَرْ‌صَرً‌ا (So, We let loose a wild wind on them - 41:16) This is the explanation of what was mentioned as ` calamity of ` Ad and Thamud' in the earlier verse. The Arabic word used in the text is sa` igah. It originally means ` something that renders one unconscious. That is why the thunderbolt is also called sa'iqah, and unforeseen calamity and disaster is also called sa` iqah. The storm which entrapped the people of ` Ad was also a 'sa'iqah', and has been mentioned in the present verse as ` wild wind' which was a wild tempest of extremely high speed and had piercing sound. (Qurtubi)

Mentioning the details of this tempest, Dahhak has said that rains had been totally stopped from them by Allah Almighty for three years, and dry tempestuous winds kept on blousing all the time, and for eight days and seven nights, they had continuous extremely severe windstorm. Some narrations have it that this event took place in the end of month of Shawwal, commenced on a Wednesday and kept on till the next Wednesday. Whenever any nation has been subjected to a scourge, it has happened on a Wednesday. (Qurtubi, Mazhari)