۞ Tell of the brother of 'Ad; when he warned his people in the sand dunes -- and indeed warners came and went before him and after him -- saying, "Worship none but God; surely I fear for you the punishment of an awful Day," 21 They said: Have you come to us to turn us away from our gods; then bring us what you threaten us with, if you are of the truthful ones. 22 He said: the knowledge is only with Allah, and I preach unto you that wherewith I have been sent, but I see you are a people given to ignorance. 23 When they saw the scourge advancing towards their valleys, they said: “This is a cloud that will bring much rain to us.” “By no means; it is what you had sought to hasten -- a wind-storm bearing a grievous chastisement 24 Destroying everything by the command of its Lord, so they became such that naught could be seen except their dwellings. Thus do We reward the guilty people. 25 We had established them firmly in a manner We have not established you. We had given them ears and eyes and hearts. But nothing availed them -- neither their ears, nor their eyes, nor their hearts, for they denied the Signs of Allah. Then what they had mocked at encompassed them. 26