۞ 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 Saleh, we had placed our hopes in you, but you forbid us from worshipping that which our fathers worshipped, and we are suspicious of what you are calling us to." 62 He said: "O my people! Tell me, if I have a clear proof from my Lord, and there has come to me a Mercy (Prophethood, etc.) from Him, who then can help me against Allah, if I were to disobey Him? Then you increase me not but in 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 In response they hamstrung her, he therefore said, “Enjoy a further three days in your homes; this is a promise that will not be untrue.” 65 So, when Our commandment came to pass, We saved Salih, and those who believed with him, by a mercy from Us, from the ignominy of that day. Lo, thy Lord! He is the Strong, the Mighty. 66 The sinners were seized by a blast from heaven, and lay overturned in their homes in the morning, 67 As if they had never lived there. No doubt! Verily, Thamud disbelieved in their Lord. So away with Thamud! 68