O ye assembly of the jinn and humankind! Came there not unto you messengers of your own who recounted unto you My tokens and warned you of the meeting of this your Day? They will say: We testify against ourselves. And the life of the world beguiled them. And they testify against themselves that they were disbelievers. 130 (They will be made to bear this witness to show that) it is not the way of your Lord to destroy cities unjustly while their people were unaware of the Truth. 131 All have degrees according to what they have done; thy Lord is not heedless of the things they do. 132 Your Lord is Self-sufficient and Merciful. Had He wanted, He could have destroyed you and replaced you by other people, just as He had created you from the offspring of others. 133 Indeed the thing which you are promised will definitely come to pass, and you cannot escape. 134 Say (O Muhammad!): 'O people! Work in your place; and I too am at work. Soon you will know in whose favour the ultimate decision will be. Surely the wrong-doers will not prosper.' 135 AND OUT OF whatever He has created of the fruits of the field and the cattle, they assign unto God a portion, saying, "This belongs to God" - or so they [falsely] claim - "and this is for those beings who, we are convinced, have a share in God's divinity." But that which is assigned to the beings associated in their minds with God does not bring [them] closer to God - whereas that which is assigned to God brings [them but] closer to those beings to whom they ascribe a share in His divinity. Bad, indeed, is their judgment! 136 And likewise, their belief in beings or powers that are supposed to have a share in God's divinity makes [even] the slaying of their children seem goodly to many of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God, thus bringing them to ruin and confusing them in their faith. Yet, unless God had so willed, they would not be doing all this: stand, therefore, aloof from them and all their false imagery! 137 And they say: Such cattle and crops are forbidden. No-one is to eat of them save whom we will - in their make-believe - cattle whose backs are forbidden, cattle over which they mention not the name of Allah. (All that is) a lie against Him. He will repay them for that which they invent. 138 And they say: 'What is within the bellies of such-and-such cattle is exclusively for our males and is forbidden to our females; but if it be born dead, they all may share in it.' He will soon requite them for all that they (falsely) attribute to Allah. He is All-Wise, All-Knowing. 139 They will surely perish who kill their offspring in ignorance foolhardily, and forbid the food that God has given them by fabricating lies against God. Misguided are they surely, and will never come to guidance. 140