Shaddād (), also known as Shaddād bin ʽĀd (), was believed to be the king of the lost

Arabian The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

city of

Iram of the Pillars Iram of the Pillars (; an alternative translation is ''Iram of the tentpoles''), also called "Irum", "Irem", "Erum", or the "City of the pillars", is a lost city mentioned in the Quran. Iram in the Quran The Quran mentions Iram in connection wi ...

, an account of which is mentioned in Sura 89 of the

Qur'an The Quran, also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation directly from God ('' Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which consist of individual verses ('). Besides ...

. Various sources suggest Shaddad was the son of 'Ad al-Miltat ibn Saksak ibn Wa'il ibn

Himyar Himyar was a polity in the southern highlands of Yemen, as well as the name of the region which it claimed. Until 110 BCE, it was integrated into the Qatabanian kingdom, afterwards being recognized as an independent kingdom. According to class ...

. His story is found in the 277th through 279th nights of the ''Tales of the Arabian Nights'' ''(

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (, ), is a collection of History of the Middle East, Middle Eastern List of fairy tales, folktales compiled in the Arabic language during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as ''The Arabian Nigh ...

)'' the tale described him as a universal king who ruled over the world and the one who built the city of gold. Brothers Shadīd () and Shaddād are said to have reigned in turn over the 1,000 Adite tribes, each consisting of several thousand men. It is said Shaddad brutally subdued all Arabia and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

. Many Arab writers tell of an expedition of Shaddād that caused the

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

ite migration, their settling in Syria, and the Shepherd invasion of Egypt. According to the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

was a city of occult worshippers of stone idols, who defied the warnings of the prophet Hud. To punish them, God sent a drought. But the people would not repent, so they were destroyed by a furious wind, from which only prophet Hud and a few believers emerged.

References

External links

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Iram Negeri Kaum Aad yang Dibinasakan in KisahMuslim.com
One Thousand and One Nights characters Mythological kings Arabian mythology {{islam-stub