And his people came rushing on towards him, for aforetime had they wrought this wickedness. He said, "O my people! these my daughters will be purer for you: fear God, and put me not to shame in my guests. Is there no rightminded man among you?" They said, "Thou knowest now that we need not thy daughters; and thou well knowest what we require." He said, "Would that I had strength to resist you, or that I could find refuge with some powerful chieftain."15 The Angels said, "O Lot! verily, we are the messengers of thy Lord: they shall not touch thee: depart with thy family in the dead of night, and let not one of you turn back: as for thy wife, on her shall light what shall light on them. Verily, that with which they are threatened is for the morning. Is not the morning near?" And when our decree came to be executed we turned those cities upside down, and we rained down upon them blocks of claystone one after another, marked16 by thy Lord himself. Nor are they far distant from the wicked Meccans. And we sent to Madian17 their brother Shoaib. He said, "O my people! worship God: no other God have you than He: give not short weight and measure: I see indeed that ye revel in good things; but I fear for you the punishment of the all-encompassing day. O my people! give weight and measure with fairness; purloin not other men's goods; and perpetrate not injustice on the earth with corrupt practices: A residue,18 the gift of God, will be best for you if ye are believers: But I am not a guardian over you." They said to him, "O Shoaib! is it thy prayers which enjoin that we should leave what our fathers worshipped, or that we should not do with our substance as pleaseth us? Thou forsooth art the mild, the right director!" He said, "O my people! How think ye? If I have a clear revelation from my Lord, and if from Himself He hath supplied me with goodly supplies, and if I will not follow you in that which I myself forbid you, do I seek aught but your amendment so far as in me lieth? My sole help is in God. In Him do I trust, and to Him do I turn me. O my people! let not your opposition to me draw down upon you the like of that which befel the people of Noah, or the people of Houd, or the people of Saleh: and the abodes of the people of Lot are not far distant from you! Seek pardon of your Lord and be turned unto Him: verily, my Lord is Merciful, Loving. They said, "O Shoaib! we understand not much of what thou sayest, and we clearly see that thou art powerless among us: were it not for thy family we would have surely stoned thee, nor couldest thou have prevailed against us." He said, "O my people! think ye more highly of my family than of God? Cast ye Him behind your back, with neglect? Verily, my Lord is round about your actions. And, O my people! act with what power ye can for my hurt: I verily will act: and ye shall know On whom shall light a punishment that shall disgrace him, and who is the liar. Await ye; verily I will await with you."