446 BaVamijs translation of the History of Tabary, [Oct. 



heaven, thou knowest that I am come here in need ; my need is not 

 sickness from which I wish to be relieved, nor captivity from which I 

 want liberation, but I want rain for my tribe who are nearly perishing 

 from thirst. He thus spoke and prayed until three clouds made their 

 appearance in the air, one was white, one red, and one was black. A 

 voice came from the wind : Choose which of the three clouds thou 

 wantest, that it may go to thy tribe ! He said to himself I know that 

 this white cloud is dry and that it contains no rain ; I do not know 

 what there is in the red cloud ; but in the black cloud is rain, for if a 

 black cloud comes its rains. He therefore exclaimed I wish that the 

 black cloud should go to my tribe. In this black cloud was the wind 

 of destruction. God ordered the angels of destruction to bring the 

 black cloud to the country of the 'Adites. Qayl descended from the 

 hill and went to his two companions, and said a black cloud came with 

 rain and I sent it to my tribe, saying this he sat down with them to 

 drink ; the cloud went to the ' Adites and it was preceded by a wind. 

 When the cloud came near they were delighted that wind, clouds, and 

 rain were coming, " and when they saw it coming to their valleys 

 they said this will bring rain." But Hud knew that it was the pun- 

 ishment ; for God had informed him thereof and he said, " On the 

 contrary this is what you have brought untimely upon yourselves ; 

 it contains wind by which a painful punishment will be inflicted upon 

 you." When it was over their heads it stopped, and a sterile wind broke 

 forth from it — " And in the 'Adites when we sent against them a sterile 

 wind" — 'Aqym (sterile) is that from which there flows no advantage. 

 Wind may be very useful after this world, it brings water for trees and 

 makes them fertile, it propels ships on the sea, it carries sweet odors, 

 it cools water, but a wind which has none of these advantages is called 

 5 Aqym (sterile). In another passage of the Koran the wind is called 

 'Aty (destructive) — " As to the 'Adites they were destroyed by a cold 

 and destructive fAty) wind." All the quadrupeds which they had, 

 were taken up from the ground by the wind and carried into the air, 

 from whence they fell to the ground and were dashed to pieces. " What- 

 ever it touched was reduced to rotten bane." When they saw this they 

 said, have patience, for after the wind it will rain. They went out of 

 their houses into the open field were they sank into the ground to their 

 thighs and stood there with great courage. Hud thought they were 



