Your Lord is God, who in six days created the Heavens and the Earth, and then mounted the throne: He throweth the veil of night over the day: it pursueth it swiftly: and he created the sun and the moon and the stars, subjected to laws by His behest: Is not all creation and its empire His? Blessed be God the Lord of the Worlds! Call upon your Lord with lowliness and in secret, for He loveth not transgressors. And commit not disorders on the earth after it hath been well ordered; and call on Him with fear and longing desire: Verily the mercy of God is nigh unto the righteous. And He it is who sendeth forth the winds as the heralds of his compassion,14 until they bring up the laden clouds, which we drive along to some dead land and send down water thereon, by which we cause an upgrowth of all kinds of fruit.-Thus will we bring forth the dead. Haply ye will reflect. In a rich soil, its plants spring forth abundantly by the will of its Lord, and in that which is bad, they spring forth but scantily. Thus do We diversify our signs for those who are thankful. Of old sent We Noah to his people,15 and he said, "O my people! worship God. Ye have no God but Him: indeed I fear for you the chastisement of the great day." The chiefs of his people said, "We clearly see that thou art in a palpable error." He said, "There is no error in me, O my people! but I am a messenger from the Lord of the Worlds. I bring to you the messages of my Lord, and I give you friendly counsel; for I know from God what ye know not. Marvel ye that a Warning should come to you from your Lord through one of yourselves, that he may warn you, and that ye may fear for yourselves, and that haply ye may find mercy?" But they treated him as a liar: so we delivered him and those who were with him in the ark, and we drowned those who charged our signs with falsehood; for they were a blind people. And to Ad16 we sent their brother Houd.17 "O my people!" said he, "worship God: ye have no other god than Him: Will ye not then fear Him?" Said the unbelieving chiefs among his people, "We certainly perceive that thou art unsound of mind; and we surely deem thee an impostor." He said, "O my people! it is not unsoundness of mind in me, but I am an Apostle from the Lord of the Worlds. The messages of my Lord do I announce to you, and I am your faithful18 counsellor. Marvel ye that a warning hath come to you from your Lord through one of yourselves that He may warn you? Remember how he hath made you the successors of the people of Noah, and increased you in tallness of stature. Remember then the favours of God, that it may haply be well with you." They said, "Art thou come to us in order that we may worship one God alone, and leave what our fathers worshipped? Then bring that upon us with which thou threatenest us, if thou be a man of truth."