To ʿĀd, Their Brother Hūd

Allah (swt) sent to them Hūd.

Wa ilā ʿĀdin akhāhum Hūdā: and to ʿĀd, their brother Hūd. He was called their brother because he's from them. What was his message? The same message of Nūḥ: qāla yā qawmi-ʿbudū Allāha mā lakum min ilāhin ghayruh, in antum illā muftarūn. O my people, worship Allah; you have no other god but Him. Certainly, you do nothing but invent lies. These gods whom you are worshipping are lies.

See, the Anbiyāʾ of Allah (swt), they are straightforward, because that is part of the amānah — amānat al-tablīgh, the trust that Allah (swt) has given them, and the responsibility of conveying the truth. And that is why they say: innī lakum rasūlun amīn. He said: I am trustworthy. Wa ana lakum nāṣiḥun amīn: and he said, and I came to you to advise you with honesty. So they are straightforward. He told them: you are lying.

And he told them: wa yā qawmi-staghfirū rabbakum thumma tūbū ilayh — O my people, seek refuge — seek forgiveness from Allah (swt), and then repent to Him. And we just talked last night about Nūḥ: he told his people the same thing. He told them: ask Allah (swt) to forgive you. And we talked about the things that they will be given if they ask Allah for forgiveness; and here Hūd is also telling them additional things. He said: wa yā qawmi-staghfirū rabbakum thumma tūbū ilayhi yursili al-samāʾa ʿalaykum midrārā, wa yazidkum quwwatan ilā quwwatikum wa lā tatawallaw mujrimīn. O my people, ask forgiveness of your Lord, and then repent to Him. He will send you from the sky abundant rain, and add strength to your strength.

So with the istighfār, you would become more powerful than you are now. They were already powerful and strong; if they ask Allah for forgiveness, Allah will give them more power and strength. This tells us something. It's telling us that we are not making enough istighfār to Allah (swt). If we were making istighfār as we should, our situation would not be the way it is today.