Hud [key], a pre-Qur'anic prophet of Islam. Hud unsuccessfully exhorted his South Arabian people, the Ad, to worship the One God. The Qur'an mentions that their incredulity was punished by a decimating “sterilizing wind” (ar-rih al-aqim). While some traditions support the etymological identification of Hud with the biblical Heber, other accounts represent him as a southern Arabian merchant. Several sites are revered as Hud's tomb, the most notable being in Yemen. Hud is also linked to monuments in Mecca and Damascus.
See R. B. Serjeant, Hud and Other Pre-Islamic Prophets of Hadramawt (1954).
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