۞ Be warned! Accursed are the people of 'Ad who were Hud's. To Thamud We Sent their brother Saleh. "O my people," he said, "worship God; you have no other god but He. It is He who raised you from the earth and settled you upon it. So beg your Lord to forgive you, and turn to Him in repentance. Surely my Lord is near and answers." 61 They said: "O Salih! thou hast been of us! a centre of our hopes hitherto! dost thou (now) forbid us the worship of what our fathers worshipped? But we are really in suspicious (disquieting) doubt as to that to which thou invitest us." 62 He said, "My people, think. I have received authoritative evidence and mercy from my Lord, so who will protect me from God if I disobey Him? You certainly want to destroy me. 63 'My nation, this is the shecamel of Allah, a sign for you. Leave her to graze upon the earth of Allah and do not touch her with evil lest you be seized by a punishment that is near' 64 But they hamstrung her, and then he said: Enjoy life in your dwelling-place three days! This is a threat that will not be belied. 65 So, when Our commandment came to pass, We saved Salih, and those who believed with him, by a mercy from Us, from the ignominy of that day. Lo, thy Lord! He is the Strong, the Mighty. 66 And the evildoers were seized by the Cry, and morning found them in their habitations fallen prostrate 67 as though they had never lived there before. Oh, verily the Thamud denied their Lord! Oh, the Thamud were destroyed. 68