۞ AND UNTO [the tribe of] Thamud [We sent] their brother Salih. He said: "O my people! Worship God [alone]: you have no deity other than Him. He brought you into being out of the earth, and made you thrive thereon. Ask Him, therefore, to forgive you your sins, and then turn towards Him in repentance - for, verily, my Sustainer is ever-near, responding [to the call of whoever calls unto Him]!" 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, “O my people! What is your opinion – if I am on clear proof from my Lord and He has bestowed upon me mercy from Him, so who will rescue me from Allah if I disobey Him? So you will not increase anything for me, except loss!” 63 And, O my people! this will be (as) Allah's she-camel for you, a sign; therefore leave her to pasture on Allah's earth and do not touch her with evil, for then a near chastisement will overtake you. 64 When they slew the she-camel, Salih told them, "You have only three days to enjoy living in your homes (before you will be struck by the torment). This is an inevitable prophecy." 65 Then when Our decree came to pass We delivered Saleh and those who believed with Him by a mercy from Us, and from the humiliation of that day. Verily thy Lord! He is the Strong, the Mighty. 66 And the blast [of God's punishment] overtook those who had been bent on evildoing: and then they lay lifeless, in their very homes, on the ground, 67 as though they had never lived there before. Oh, verily the Thamud denied their Lord! Oh, the Thamud were destroyed. 68