‘Ad
Ad (also called Aad) is the great-grandson of Shem, son of Noah (Arabic: sam ibn Nuh سام بن نوح) who came from the northeast and was the progenitor of the Adites. Noah is said to be Ad's the great-great-grandfather, he being the son of Awadh(Uz) (عوض), who was the son of Iram (إرم), who was the son of Shem (سام) the son of Noah (نوح).
The Adites are among the first inhabitants of the country of the Arabians. They belong to what is known as the perished Arabs (العرب البائدة).
According to the Atlantean mythology of Ignatius L. Donnelly, Ad is said to have married 1,000 wives, had 4,000 sons, and lived 1,200 years.[1] His descendants multiplied considerably, populating the southernmost part of the Arabian peninsula, spreading in modern-day Hadramout in Eastern Yemen. After Ad's death, his sons Shadid and Shedad reigned in succession over the Adites. Ad then became a collective term for all those descended from Ad.
Iram (إرم) is the place to which the prophet Hud (هود) was sent in order to guide its people back to the righteous path of Islam. The citizens continued in their idolatrous ways, and Allah destroyed their city in a great storm. The Qur'an mentions Ad as a collective, Iram as a capital city for the collective, and the rolling sand dunes of what is now called the Empty Quarter as the setting of this event as related in Surah 89:6-9.
- "Have you not considered how your Lord dealt with Ad
- (The people of) Iram, possessors of lofty buildings
- The like of which were not created in the (other) cities"
Iram has only two ancient historic references; the first being a Sumerian cuneiform tablet, and the other being the above referenced Qur'anic verse. An ancient city in the area known as Ubar is in fact said to be Iram.
It is said that Hud along with his closest family escaped the region and resettled in and around the modern area of Hadramaut in Yemen. His grave is traditionally said to be located there till this day. The descendants of Hud were the forerunners to the Pure Arabs (العرب العاربة).