۞ Say: "Do you refuse to believe in Him who created the earth in two spans of time, and set up compeers to Him, the Lord of all the worlds? 9 And He placed therein mountains firmly rooted rising above it, and blessed it, and ordained therein the sustenance thereof, all this in four days, complete; this for the inquirers. 10 Then He willed to the heaven when it was smoke, and to it and the earth He said: 'Come willingly, or unwillingly' 'We come willingly' they answered. 11 and in two Days He formed seven heavens, and revealed to each heaven its functions; and We adorned the lower heaven with brilliant lamps [stars] and guarded it. That is the decree of the Almighty, the All Knowing. 12 BUT IF they turn away, say: "I warn you of [the coming of] a thunderbolt of punishment like the thunderbolt [that fell upon the tribes] of Ad and Thamud!" 13 Recall what time the apostles came unto them from before them and behind them, saying: worship none save Allah. They said: had our Lord listed, He surely would have sent down angels, so verily in that wherewith ye have been sent we are disbelievers altogether. 14 As for Ad, they waxed proud in the land without justification and said: “Who is greater than we in strength?” Did they not see that Allah, Who created them, is greater in strength than they? They continued to deny Our Signs, 15 So We let loose on them a violent wind for several days of distress to make them taste a most disgraceful punishment here in this world, and far more shameful will be the punishment in the Hereafter, and there will be no succour for them. 16 And as for Thamud, We guided them, but they preferred blindness over guidance, so the thunderbolt of humiliating punishment seized them for what they used to earn. 17 We only rescued the believers who had fear of God. 18