۞ Say, "What! Do you indeed deny Him who created the earth in two Days [periods] and do you set up equals with Him? He is the Lord of the Universe." 9 He placed therein (i.e. the earth) firm mountains from above it, and He blessed it, and measured therein its sustenance (for its dwellers) in four Days equal (i.e. all these four 'days' were equal in the length of time), for all those who ask (about its creation). 10 Then He lifted Himself to heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth, "Come willingly, or unwillingly!" They said, "We come willingly." 11 And He [it is who] decreed that they become seven heavens in two aeons, and imparted unto each heaven its function. And We adorned the skies nearest to the earth with lights, and made them secure: such is the ordaining of the Almighty, the All-Knowing. 12 Then if they turn away say, “I warn you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt which came upon A’ad and Thamud.” 13 When the Messengers came to them, from before them and behind them (saying): "Worship none but Allah" They said: "If our Lord had so willed, He would surely have sent down the angels. So indeed! We disbelieve in that with which you have been sent." 14 Now as for [the tribe of] Ad, they walked arrogantly on earth, [offending] against all right, and saying, "Who could have a power greater than ours?" Why - were they, then, not aware that God, who created them, had a power greater than theirs? But they went on rejecting Our messages; 15 We therefore sent a violent thunderstorm towards them in their days of misfortune, in order to make them taste a disgraceful punishment in the life of this world; and indeed the punishment of the Hereafter is more disgracing, and they will not be helped. 16 And as for Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance, so the thunderbolt of humiliating punishment seized them for what they used to earn. 17 And We rescued those who accepted faith and were pious. 18