۞ 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 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 If they ignore (your message), tell them, "I have warned you against a destructive blast of sound like that which struck the people of `Ad and Thamud. 13 Their apostles came to them one after the other (saying): "Do not worship any one but God." They said: "If our Lord had pleased He would have sent the angels down. We reject what is sent with you." 14 Now the 'Ad behaved arrogantly through the land, against (all) truth and reason, and said: "Who is superior to us in strength?" What! did they not see that Allah, Who created them, was superior to them in strength? But they continued to reject 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 And as for Thamud, We showed and made clear to them the Path of Truth (Islamic Monotheism) through Our Messenger, (i.e. showed them the way of success), but they preferred blindness to guidance, so the Sa'iqah (a destructive awful cry, torment, hit, a thunderbolt) of disgracing torment seized them, because of what they used to earn. 17 And We rescued those who accepted faith and were pious. 18