I have been told that the name "iram" or "erum" has a bad meaning in the quran, is this true?
Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
We put this question to Shaykh ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Jibreen (may Allaah preserve him) who replied as follows:
They (the scholars) mentioned that this is a name, or the name of a tribe or a land. Allaah called the land of ‘Aad al-Ahqaaf, and in a hadeeth the tribe was called Iram; the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said concerning the Khawaarij: “[If I meet them,] I will certainly kill them as ‘Aad and Iram were killed.” And Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “See you not how your Lord dealt with the ‘Aad (people) – of the (city of) Iram, with lofty pillars?” [al-Fajr 89:6-7 – Yusuf Ali translation].
The most correct view is that it is the name of a tribe. And Allaah knows best.