And when your Lord proclaimed, "If you are thankful, surely I will increase you, but if you are thankless My chastisement is surely terrible."' 7 And Moses said: "If ye show ingratitude, ye and all on earth together, yet is Allah free of all wants, worthy of all praise. 8 HAVE THE STORIES of those [deniers of the truth] who lived before you never yet come within your ken - [the stories of] the people of Noah, and of [the tribes of] 'Ad and Thamud, and of those who came after them? None knows them [now] save God. There came unto them their apostles with all evidence of the truth - but they covered their mouths with their hands and answered: "Behold, we refuse to regard as true the message with which you [claim to] have been entrusted; and behold, we are in grave doubt, amounting to suspicion, about [the meaning of] your call to us!" 9 ۞ Their messengers said: Can there be doubt concerning Allah, the Creator of the heavens and the earth? He calleth you that He may forgive you your sins and reprieve you unto an appointed term. They said: Ye are but mortals like us, who would fain turn us away from what our fathers used to worship. Then bring some clear warrant. 10 Their Noble Messengers said to them, “We are indeed human beings like you, but Allah bestows favour upon whomever He wills, among His bondmen*; it is not our task to bring any proof to you except by the command of Allah; and only upon Allah must the Muslims rely.” (* Therefore Prophets and other men are not equal in status.) 11 and why should we not put our trust in God when He has already guided us to our paths? We will, surely, bear with patience all the harm you do us. So in God let those who trust put their trust." 12