۞ Remember Aad's brother who warned his nation in (the valley of) Al Ahqaf. Warners had already preceded and succeeded him saying: 'Worship none except Allah! (he said) 'Indeed, I fear for you the punishment of a Dreadful Day' 21 They answered: "Hast thou come to seduce us away from our gods? Bring, then, upon us that [doom] with which thou threaten us, if thou art a man of truth!" 22 He said: The knowledge is only with Allah, and I deliver to you the message with which I am sent, but I see you are a people who are ignorant. 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 It shall annihilate everything by the command of its Lord. Wherefore they became such that naught could be seen save their dwellings Thus We requite a nation of the culprits. 25 And We had indeed given them the means which We have not given you, and made ears and eyes and hearts for them; so their ears and eyes and hearts did not benefit them at all because they used to deny the signs of Allah, and the punishment they used to mock at encompassed them. 26