۞ 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 And He made in it mountains above its surface, and He blessed therein and made therein its foods, in four periods: alike for the seekers. 10 Then He Istawa (rose over) towards the heaven when it was smoke, and said to it and to the earth: "Come both of you willingly or unwillingly." They both said: "We come, willingly." 11 Then He ordained them seven heavens in two Days and inspired in each heaven its mandate; and We decked the nether heaven with lamps, and rendered it inviolable. That is the measuring of the Mighty, the Knower. 12 But if they turn away, then say, "I have warned you of a thunderbolt like the thunderbolt [that struck] 'Aad and Thamud. 13 Recall what time the apostles came unto them from before them and behind them, saying: worship none save Allah. They said: had our Lord listed, He surely would have sent down angels, so verily in that wherewith ye have been sent we are disbelievers altogether. 14 As for the tribe of 'Ad, they behaved arrogantly in the land without any justification and said, "Who is mightier than we in power?" Did they not see that God, who created them, was mightier than they in power? Still they continued to deny Our signs, 15 Then, on the ominous days, We loosed against them a howling wind that We might let them taste the punishment of humiliation in this life; but more humiliating will be the punishment of the Everlasting Life and they will not be helped. 16 As for Thamood, We (offered) them Our Guidance, but they preferred blindness to guidance. So a thunderbolt of the humiliating punishment seized them because of what they had earned; 17 And We delivered those who believed and used to keep their duty to Allah. 18