Abstract

“At the beginning of 1990’s, several press-releases appeared in renowned
newspapers of the world, declaring “Fabled Lost Arabian city found”, “Arabian city of
Legend found”, “The Atlantis of the Sands, Ubar”.
More intriguing is the fact that this city was also referred to in the Qur’an. Many
people who thought that ‘Ad recounted in the Qur’an were a legend or that their
location could never be found were astonished at this discovery.
It was understood that this ruined city belonged to ‘Ad and of Iram’s pillars
mentioned in the Qur’an, because among the structures unearthed were the towers,
particularly referred to in the Qur’an. A member of the research team leading the
excavation, Dr. Zarins, said that, since the towers were alleged to be the distinctive
feature of Ubar, and since Iram was mentioned as having towers or pillars, this then was the strongest proof so far that the site they had unearthed was Iram, the city of
‘Ad described in the Qur’an.
The Qur’an mentions Iram as follows:
“Seest thou not how thy Lord dealt with the ‘Ad (people), - Of the (city of) Iram, with
lofty pillars, The like of which were not produced in (all) the land?” (The Holy Qur’an:
Surat al-Fajr, 6-8)