How many communities of evil-doers We have destroyed, raising up other people after them. 11 When they felt Our punishment coming upon them, they began to flee from it. 12 They were told, "Do not try to flee, but return to the comfort and luxuries in which you exulted and to the places where you lived, so that you may be questioned." 13 They said, "O woe to us! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 14 And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is reaped, extinct (dead). 15 We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them for a (mere) play. 16 Had it been Our will to find a pastime, We would have found one near at hand; if at all We were inclined to do so. 17 We bring forward the Truth to crush and destroy falsehood; it is doomed to be banished. Woe to you for your way of thinking about God! 18 And His is whosoever is in the heavens and the earth; and those nigh unto Him are not too stiff-necked for His worship nor are they weary. 19 They (i.e. the angels) glorify His Praises night and day, (and) they never slacken (to do so). 20 Or have they taken (for worship) aliha (gods) from the earth who raise the dead? 21 Had there been therein (in the heavens and the earth) gods besides Allah, then verily both would have been ruined. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, (High is He) above what they attribute to Him! 22 He will not be questioned as to that which He doeth, but they will be questioned. 23 Have they taken gods beside Him? Say thou: forth with your proof This is an admonition unto those with me and an admonition unto those before me. But most of them knew not the truth, and so they are averters. 24 and [this despite the fact that even] before thy time We never sent any apostle without having revealed to him that there is no deity save Me, - [and that,] therefore, you shall worship Me [alone]! 25 And they say: The Beneficent hath taken unto Himself a son. Be He Glorified! Nay, but (those whom they call sons) are honoured slaves; 26 These servants do not speak before He speaks. They simply act according to His orders. 27 He knows whatever is before them and whatsoever is remote from them and they do not intercede except for him, intercession on whose behalf pleases Him, and they stand constantly in awe of Him. 28 ۞ If any one of them said: "I am God besides Him," We should award him Hell; for this is how We requite the evil-doers. 29