Thamud is the name of an ancient civilization in Hejaz who were known from the 1st millennium BCE to near the time of Muhammad. The oldest known reference to Thamud is a 715 BCE inscription of the Assyrian king Sargon II which mentions them as being among the people of eastern and central Arabia subjugated by the Assyrians but they were living very early even before Abraham when we compare the family tree of Prophets as their Ancestors were Iram and Ars.
circa 715 BCE
A row of tombs from the al-Khuraymat group, Mada'in Saleh. The Quran suggests some kind of relationship between 'Aad and Thamud, and 'Aad may have been a part of Thamud's history and culture. Just as prophet Nuh's (Noah) people were seen as the ancestors of ʿĀad, it seems ʿĀad were seen in a similar relation to Thamud.
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