۞ And remember (Hud) the brother of 'Ad, when he warned his people in Al-Ahqaf (the curved sand-hills in the southern part of Arabian Peninsula). And surely, there have passed away warners before him and after him (saying): "Worship none but Allah; truly, I fear for you the torment of a mighty Day." 21 They said: art thou come unto us that thou mayest turn us aside from our gods? then bring thou upon us that wherewith thou threatenest us, if thou art of the truth-tellers. 22 He said: The knowledge is with Allah only. I convey unto you that wherewith I have been sent, but I see you are a folk that know not. 23 And when they saw it as a sudden cloud heading for their valley they said: 'This is a cloud that will bring us rain' 'Rather' (he replied): 'it is that which you have sought to hasten, a wind in which there is a painful punishment. 24 which will destroy everything at its Lord's behest!" And in the morning there was nothing left to be seen save their [empty] dwellings: thus We repay the evil-doers. 25 We had empowered them to an extent which We have not empowered you, [O people of later times]; and We had endowed them with hearing, and sight, and hearts: but neither their hearing, nor their sight, nor their hearts were of the least avail to them, since they went on rejecting God's revelations; and they were overwhelmed by the very thing which they had been wont to deride. 26