۞ Say thou: are ye indeed those who disbelieve in Him who hath created the earth in two days, and set up unto Him peers? That is the Lord of the worlds. 9 And He placed therein mountains firmly rooted rising above it, and blessed it, and ordained therein the sustenance thereof, all this in four days, complete; this for the inquirers. 10 Then He directed Himself to the heaven while it was smoke and said to it and to the earth, "Come [into being], willingly or by compulsion." They said, "We have come willingly." 11 Then He created several skies in two spans, and ingrained in each sky its function, decking the nearest heaven with lamps, and guarded it. This has been determined by the mighty and all-knowing. 12 If they turn away, then say, "I warn you of a lightning-bolt like the one which struck the 'Ad and the Thamud: 13 Lo! There came unto them [God's] apostles, speaking of what lay open before them and what was [still] beyond their ken, [and calling unto them,] "Worship none but God!" They answered: "If our Sustainer had willed [us to believe in what you say,] He would have sent down angels [as His message-bearers]. As it is, behold, we deny that there is any truth in what you [claim to] have been sent with!" 14 Then as to Ad, they were unjustly proud in the land, and they said: Who is mightier in strength than we? Did they not see that Allah Who created them was mightier than they in strength, and they denied Our communications? 15 Wherefore We sent upon them a raging wind in days inauspicious, that We might make them taste the torment of humiliation in the life of the world; and surely the torment of the Hereafter will be more humiliating, nor will they be succoured. 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 delivered those who believed and used to keep their duty to Allah. 18