۞ Permission to fight is granted to those who are attacked, because they have been wronged, God indeed has the power to help them, 39 to those who were unjustly expelled from their homes only because they said, "God is our Lord." Had it not been for God's repelling some people through the might of the others, the monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which God is very often worshipped would have been utterly destroyed. God shall certainly help those who help Him. He is All-powerful and Majestic. 40 [They are] those who, if We established them in the land, would say their prayers regularly and pay the zakat and enjoin good and forbid evil. The final outcome of all affairs rests with God. 41 If your opponents deny you, remember that, before them, the people of Noah and the tribes of 'Ad and Thamud denied their messengers likewise. 42 And the folk of Abraham and the folk of Lot; 43 and the inhabitants of Midian also charged their prophets with falsehood. Moses was also rejected. I gave respite to those who denied the truth, but then I seized them. Consider then, how terrible My repudiation of them was. 44 How many a village We have destroyed in its harmdoing, so that it lies fallen upon its turrets, and how many an abandoned well, and empty palace! 45 Have these people not travelled through the land to make their hearts understand and let their ears hear; the truth is that it is not the eyes that are blind but the hearts that are in the bosoms that are blinded. 46 And they ask you for the punishment – they are impatient – and Allah will not make His promise untrue; and indeed a single day before Allah is like a thousand years in your calculation. 47 And for how many a city did I prolong enjoyment while it was committing wrong. Then I seized it, and to Me is the [final] destination. 48