To Thamood We sent their brother Salih saying: 'Worship Allah' But they were two parties in dispute with one another. 45 He said: O my people! Why will ye hasten on the evil rather than the good? Why will ye not ask pardon of Allah, that ye may receive mercy. 46 They said, 'We augur ill of thee and of those that are with thee.' He said, 'Your augury is with God; nay, but you are a people being proved.' 47 And there were in the city nine men (from the sons of their chiefs), who made mischief in the land, and would not reform. 48 They said: Swear one to another by Allah that we verily will attack him and his household by night, and afterward we will surely say unto his friend: We witnessed not the destruction of his household. And lo! we are truthtellers. 49 They hatched up the plot; We also planned without their knowledge. 50 Behold, then, what all their scheming came to in the end: We utterly destroyed them and their people, all of them; 51 Because of their wrongdoing, their houses are in ruins, in that surely there is a sign for people who have knowledge, 52 seeing that We saved those who had attained to faith and were conscious of Us, 53 AND [thus, too, did We save] Lot, when he said unto his people: "Would you commit this abomination with your eyes open (to its being against all nature)? 54 Do you have carnal relations with men rather than women? You are ignorant people". 55 ۞ And the only answer of his people was that they said, 'Expel the folk of Lot from your city; they are men that keep themselves clean!' 56 Eventually We saved (Lot) and his family, except his wife. We had decreed that she should be among those who would remain behind. 57 And We rained upon them a rain [of stones], and evil was the rain of those who were warned. 58