The Prophets, Their Lives and Their Stories: Hud: And Here Is An Amazing Story

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And Here Is An Amazing Story It is the paradise of Shaddâd ben A'ad that he built and described as the paradise that God created for faithful followers.
Its story was transferred and been told by many historians one of them is Al-Sadooq in Ikmâl Al-Deen [a book's name] as reported to a man called Abi Wâ'il, so he said: there was a man called `Abdullah ben Qulâbah went out seeking some camels that he lost, and while he was in the deserts of Aden in Yemen, and while in these deserts he saw bright twinkling that almost took his sightness away, so he went directly towards it and he forgot about his camels, so when he got closer he found a great city and a fort around it, and around that fort many castles and long high flags, so he got closer and thought there is someone to ask about his camels but he saw no one going in or out of it and got scared, so he got down from his camel and tied it then got his sword ready and entered from the gate of the fort and then he saw two great doors that he never saw like them before and their wood is of the finest and on them placed the red and yellow rubies and their lights filled the space, so when he saw that he liked it and opened on of the doors and entered so he found himself in a city that no one saw before, and found castles hanged up in the air by pillars of emeralds and rubies and upon each castle of these there are rooms and above the rooms there were rooms made of gold and silver and pearls and rubies and emeralds, and upon each door of these rooms there were leaves like the leaves on the doors of the city itself and made of the finest wood and ornamented with rubies. These castles were paved with pearls, musk and saffron, so when he saw all of that and didn't see any one in it he got scared and afraid, then he took a look into the streets and found each one of these was full of fruitfull trees and rivers going from under it, so when he saw all of that he said to hisself: This is the paradise that God promised for his faithful slaves so thanks may be to Him to let me in it, so then he carried some of its pearls and its musk and some of its saffrons, and it was as much as a sand in it, so he carried whatever he could and couldn't take other things because they were planted in its doors, walls and pillars, so then he got out and mounted his camel and went back from the way he came from until he got back to Yemen and showed what he got and carried and told people what did he see and met and sold some of what he got of pearls so his news spread over the lands and that was at the time of Mu`âwiyah ben Abi-Sufyân [The main creator for the Ummayads empire after the end of the Caliphates age. He was in furious wars with Ali ben Abi-Tâlib and his son Al-Hasan PUT], so when he got the tidings about it he sent a messenger to Yemen asking the man to come to him, so the man went along until he reached Mu`âwiyah, and when they sat alone with each other he asked him what did he see, so the man told him the story of the city and what did he see in it and showed him some of what he got there of pearls, musk and saffron, so Mu`âwiyah said then: Oh God, even king Solomon ben David did not get a city like this!
Then Mu`âwiyah sent a messenger to The Rabbi (and he is the wisest man of Jews that he finally got into Islam at the time of the prince of believers Ali ben Abi-Tâlib PUH, and was a good follower and he's known with this name and used to live in Medina, and God knows better) so when he arrived Mu`âwiyah asked him: O father of Isaac, is there a city that was built by gold and silver and its pillars made of Beryl and Rubies and the stones of its castles and rooms is made of pearls and the rivers go in its streets surrounded by fruitful trees? So then The Rabbi said to him: This city is owned by Shaddâd ben A'ad, and this city is "With many-columned Iram"(Al-fajir:7), and it is the one described by God, the Exalted, in His book that was revealed on His prophet (PUH), and it is mentioned that nothing like it was created over the lands. Then Mu`âwiyah said to him: tell us about it. So, The Rabbi said: the first A'ad and not A'ad the people of Hud PUH, he had two sons, one called Shadeed and the other Shaddâd, so then A'ad died and they stayed after him and ruled over earth with might and power and people obeyed them from east to west, then Shadeed died and only Shaddâd stayed and ruled alone, and he loved reading books so much, and whenever he used to hear about the paradise and whatever is there of buildings and castles and rubies with beryls, he wished to do the same of it in the real life as a challenge to God. So, he started working on it and assigned one hundred men of crafts for doing so, and for each man of them a thousand workers and said to them: go to the best land on earth that is good for such a thing and build a city of gold, silver, rubies, beryl, and pearls, and make it on pedestals of beryl and upon them rooms and rooms over the rooms and listed other things that he wants such as channeling rivers and planting trees and other things that were described for paradise, so they said to him: how can we do it as you said of gold and silver and jewels? So Shaddâd said to them: don't you know that I own the earth? They answered: yes, he said: then go to every ore of jewels, gold and silver and assign to it men of experience until you collect what you need of it and also collect all what people has of gold and silver and go to work, and also write to the kings and princes of lands from the east to the west of earth, so they obeyed his orders and started collecting jewels for ten years and started building, so they built it up in three hundreds years, so when they told him that they finished he ordered them to protect it with a great wall and then they made around the wall one thousand castles, at each castle there were one thousand flags on specific position, and he ought to put one of his ministers in each castle, so they all obeyed and did what he asked. When everything was done and they told him that they finished building, he ordered them to povide it with tools of comfort like beds and seats..etc and everything they need of mirrors and decorations so they spent ten years working on this, and then when everything is done, the king Shaddâd travelled to it with his family and relatives and army and his slaves, so when the city was far away for one day and night, God sent to him and all the people with him a great shout from the sky and destroyed them all before they reach it, so no one got inside it, and so this is the story of "many-columned Iram."
That was the speech of The Rabbi to Mu`âwiyah ben Abi-Sufyân that concerns the city of Shaddâd and it is the "many-columned Iram". Then after that The Rabbi said to Mu`âwiyah: and I find in books that a man will get into it and see what's inside it and then gets out and tell the people about it but they will not believe him and the people of faith at the end of time will get into it, and in another version as mentioned in Majma` Al-Bayân [a book's name]: and a man of Muslims at your time will get into it and he's red and blonde and short got a mole over his eye and over his neck that will come over deserts asking for his camels, and the man was sitting with Mu`âwiyah so The Rabbi turned to him and said: I swear this is the man. This is what was between Mu`âwiyah and The Rabbi and this story is about Shaddâd ben A'ad and it is different from A'ad people that were at the time of Hud (PUH) as we mentioned before and it is even before his time and for this we think that between Hud and Shem ben Noah the longest of the two chains of fathers mentioned before so the number of fathers between the two becomes six and they are: Abdullah, the father of Hud, and then comes Rabbâh ben Khalud ben A'ad ben `Ewas ben Iram ben Shem ben Noah (PUT), and not only two and they are: Shâlih ben Arfakhshd ben Shem, and for what we've suggested that means Hud was sent to the people of his grandfather's grandfather and this is unreasonable, and even according to our rules and faith it is not possible, for the fathers of every prophet are purified and infallible and faithful and nothing less than that, and from this point of view the controversy takes place and only God knows. There is also no doubt that the name "A'ad" was for a man who became a tyrant which is different from the fathers of Hud (PUH), so we do not doubt their infalliblity and it is a purified sacred chain connected with Shem ben Noah (PUT), and also we don't doubt the existance of Shadeed and Shaddâd for historians did emphasize on their existance and they are the sons of A'ad as well. We don't deny this story and the building of the city mentioned before that it might be true, but it should not be believed in completely until a clue is founded that can break all doubts which is something lost currently. Yes, it was mentioned in many books and even some of them is traced back to the infallible Imams but it wasn't for sure to be trusted in for the weakness of the tracing chain, but it is something that can be true or false, and I've mentioned it here because it was mentioned in many books and for its connection with this chapter and the purpose is not hidden and God knows everything and we shall ask Him the mercy and the will. It is mentioned also that A'ad is a famous Arabic name, and what is traced back from a speech for Sebaweh [a famous linguist that contributed and explained a lot of the Arabic grammar and vocabulary at his time. In modern life, his name become as saying said to everyone that knows so much in the deep Arabic language], that A'ad is a foreign name and the first one to speak Arabic was Ya`rob ben Qahtân which came after a long time after the time of A'ad, and only God knows.

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