How many a city turned in disdain from the commandment of its Lord and His Messengers; and then We made with it a terrible reckoning and chastised it with a horrible chastisement. 8 Then did they taste the evil result of their conduct, and the End of their conduct was Perdition. 9 Allah hath prepared for them stern punishment; so keep your duty to Allah, O men of understanding! O ye who believe! Now Allah hath sent down unto you a reminder, 10 [He has sent] an apostle who conveys unto you God's clear messages, so that He might take those who have attained to faith and do righteous deeds out of the depths of darkness into the light. And whoever believes in God and does what is right and just, him will He admit into gardens through which running waters flow, therein to abide beyond the count of time: indeed, a most goodly provision will God have granted him! 11 GOD is He who has created seven heavens, and like them, [the many aspects] of the earth. Through all of them flows down from on high, unceasingly, His [creative] will, so that you might come to know that God has the power to will anything, and that God encompasses all things with His knowledge. 12