For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 Whensoever they sensed Our punishment they fled from them. 12 "Do not flee; go back to your halls of pleasure and your habitations, so that you may be interrogated." 13 They said, "O woe to us! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 14 So they kept saying this until We made them cut off, extinguished. 15 And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play. 16 [for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all! 17 Nay! We cast the truth against the falsehood, so that it breaks its head, and lo! it vanishes; and woe to you for what you describe; 18 To Him belong all (creatures) in the heavens and on earth: Even those who are in His (very) Presence are not too proud to serve Him, nor are they (ever) weary (of His service): 19 And they hallow Him night and day, and they flag not. 20 Or, have they taken earthly gods who revive the dead? 21 had there been in heaven or on earth any deities other than God, both [those realms would surely have fallen into ruin! But limitless in His glory is God, enthroned in His awesome almightiness far] above anything that men may devise by way of definition! 22 He will not be questioned about anything He does, but all people will be questioned about their deeds. 23 and yet, they choose to worship [imaginary] deities instead of Him! Say [O Prophet]: "Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this is a reminder [unceasingly voiced] by those who are with me, just as it was a reminder [voiced] by those who came before me." But nay, most of them do not know the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away [from it] 24 And We did not send any Noble Messenger before you, but We divinely revealed to him that, “There is no God except I (Allah), therefore worship Me alone.” 25 And they say: "The Most Beneficent (Allah) has begotten a son (or children)." Glory to Him! They [those whom they call children of Allah i.e. the angels, 'Iesa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), 'Uzair (Ezra), etc.], are but honoured slaves. 26 they speak not until He has spoken unto them, and [whenever they act,] they act at His behest. 27 He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already] graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him. 28 ۞ And if any of them were to say: "Behold, I am deity beside Him" - that one We should requite with hell: thus do We requite all [such] evildoers. 29