۞ Say, "Do you really disbelieve in the One Who created the earth in two days? Do you consider things equal to Him? He is the Lord of the Universe. 9 'And He set therein firm mountains over it, and He blessed it, and He ordained therein its diverse sustenance in four days, equal to those who ask.' 10 Thereafter turned He to the heaven and it was as smoke, and said unto it and unto the earth: come ye twain, willingly or loth. They said: we come willingly. 11 Then He decreed them as seven heavens in two days, and revealed unto each heaven the command thereof; and We bedecked the nether heaven with lamps and placed therein a guard. That is the ordinance of the Mighty, the Knower. 12 But if they turn away, say: 'I have given you warning of a thunderbolt similar to that which overtook Aad and Thamood' 13 When the Messengers came unto them from before them and from behind them, saying, 'Serve none but God,' they said, 'Had our Lord willed, surely He would have sent down angels; so we disbelieve in the Message you were sent with.' 14 As for Aad, they behaved proudly in the earth without right. 'Who is stronger than us?' they would say. Could they not see that Allah, who created them, is stronger than they? But they disbelieved Our signs. 15 We sent upon them a violent wind during a few ill-fated days to make them suffer a disgraceful torment in this life. Their torment in the life to come will be even more disgraceful and they will not receive any help. 16 As to the Thamud, We gave them Guidance, but they preferred blindness (of heart) to Guidance: so the stunning Punishment of humiliation seized them, because of what they had earned. 17 And We saved those who believed and used to fear Allah, keep their duty to Him and avoid evil. 18