And assuredly We sent unto the Thamud their brother Saleh saying: worship Allah. Then lo! they became two parties contending. 45 He said: "O my people! why ask ye to hasten on the evil in preference to the good? If only ye ask Allah for forgiveness, ye may hope to receive mercy. 46 They said: We have met with ill luck on account of you and on account of those with you. He said: The cause of your evil fortune is with Allah; nay, you are a people who are tried. 47 And there were in the city nine persons who made mischief in the land and reformed not. 48 They said: swear by God one to another that we shall surely fall upon him and his household by night and thereafter we shall surely say unto his heir; we witnessed not the destruction of his household, and verily we are truthtellers. 49 And they planned a plan, and We planned a plan while they perceived not. 50 So behold thou how was the end of their plotting: verily We annihilated them and their nation all together. 51 and [now] those dwellings of theirs are empty, [ruined] as an outcome of their evil deeds. In this, behold, there is a message indeed for people of [innate] knowledge 52 We deliver those who believe and take heed for themselves. 53 AND [thus, too, did We save] Lot, when he said unto his people: "Would you commit this abomination with your eyes open (to its being against all nature)? 54 "Do you approach men in your lusts rather than women? Nay, but you are a people who behave senselessly." 55 ۞ His people had no answer but to say, "Expel Lot and his family from the town for they want to be pure." 56 So We saved him and his family, except his wife, whom We decreed should stay behind. 57 the while We rained a rain [of destruction] upon the others: and dire is such rain upon all who let themselves be warned [to no avail] 58