Ahqaf: Difference between revisions

'''Aḥqāf''' (Arabic: {{ia|أحْقاف}}) was the land where the [[prophet Hud (a)]] and the [[People of 'Ad]] lived. There is a [[sura]] in the [[Qur'an]] named after this land. In the Qur'an, the land is considered as green and flourishing, although it turned into a desert after a [[Divine punishment]] of the People of 'Ad. There is a disagreement over the current location of Ahqaf. It is believed by [[Allama Tabataba'i]] to be located in southern parts of the [[Arabian Peninsula]].

The land of Ahqaf, after which [[Sura al-Ahqaf]] is named, was the place where People of 'Ad lived prosperously, but they suffered a Divine punishment after refusing to obey the [[prophet Hud (a)]].

According to the [[Qur'an]], Ahqaf was green and flourishing before the Divine punishment of the [[People of 'Ad]]. In [[Qur'an 89]], the civilization of the People of 'Ad is said to be unprecedented.

According to [['Allama Tabataba'i]], Ahqaf is definitely located in southern Arabian Peninsula. No remnants of the land have survived today. However, there is a disagreement over the exact location of Ahqaf. It is believed by some people to be located in a desert between [[Oman]] and al-Mahra in [[Yemen]]. Others take it to be a sabulous desert adjacent to the sea in Ash-Shihr in Yemen. In some other sources, it is taken to be located in sabulous lands between Oman and [[Hadhramaut]].

Medieval Muslim geographers believed that Ahqaf was a sabulous land in Ramla or Rub' al-Khali (the Empty Quarter). However, contemporary European geographers take it to include the whole Ramla or its western part. Since the land is hot and dry, geographers refer to it as the "Empty Quarter" since no one lives there. According to Bi-Azar Shirazi, Bedouins in southern of [[Saudi Arabia]] refer by "Ahqaf" to a mountainous area extending from western coasts of Dhofar to Eden (the center of which is Hadhramaut). A grave is said to be located in Ahqaf, which is attributed to [[Hud (a)]].

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