Overall meaning : Mention to the people, Muhammad, Prophet Hud—the brother of the tribe of ‘Aad—whose dwellings were in the area of Al-Ahqaf (Sand Dunes), when he warned them of Allah’s punishment for their unbelief. Messengers were sent before and after him to warn their people. He warned them, saying, ‘Worship none but Allah, for I fear for you the torment of a terrible day.’
They contemptuously said, ‘Have you come to turn us aside from the worship of our gods?! Bring down the punishment with which you threaten us, if what you say is true!’
He said, ‘Allah alone has knowledge of its time. I am only a messenger from Allah to you. My duty is to deliver to you the message I have been sent with, but I can see that you are a people who are ignorant of the truth and who persist in falsehood.’
The punishment which they had so derisively demanded to be hastened, eventually descended upon them. Seeing its beginning in the form of passing clouds that were heading for their valleys and dwellings, they joyfully said, ‘These passing clouds will bring us rain!’ ‘No, indeed!’ he rejoined. ‘It is what you have sought to hasten: a windstorm bearing a painful punishment which will destroy everything by the command of its Lord.’ They were then so utterly wiped out that nothing was left to be seen except their empty dwellings, to serve as a lesson for others. Thus do We requite the wrongdoers who are given to wickedness!