[And thus will God continue:] "O you who have lived in close communion with [evil] invisible beings and [like-minded] humans! Have there not come unto you apostles from among yourselves, who conveyed unto you My messages and warned you of the coming of this your Day [of Judgment]?" They will answer: "We do bear witness against ourselves!" - for the life of this world had beguiled them: and so they will bear witness against themselves that they had been denying the truth. 130 This is because your Lord would not destroy the (populations of) towns for their wrong-doing (i.e. associating others in worship along with Allah) while their people were unaware (so the Messengers were sent). 131 For all there will be degrees (or ranks) according to what they did. And your Lord is not unaware of what they do. 132 Thy Lord is self-sufficient, full of Mercy: if it were His will, He could destroy you, and in your place appoint whom He will as your successors, even as He raised you up from the posterity of other people. 133 The promise that was made to you is bound to be fulfilled. It is not in your power to defeat it. 134 Say (O Muhammad SAW): "O my people! Work according to your way, surely, I too am working (in my way), and you will come to know for which of us will be the (happy) end in the Hereafter. Certainly the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.) will not be successful. 135 And they assign to Allah a share of the tilth and cattle which He has created, and they say: "This is for Allah according to their pretending, and this is for our (Allah's so-called) partners." But the share of their (Allah's so-called) "partners" reaches not Allah, while the share of Allah reaches their (Allah's so-called) "partners"! Evil is the way they judge! 136 And similarly, their partners (the devils) have made the killing of their children seem righteous in the sight of many of the polytheists, in order to ruin them and make their religion blurred to them; and if Allah willed they would not do so, therefore leave them alone with their fabrications. 137 And they said, “These cattle and crops are forbidden; only those whom we wish can eat them” – in their opinion – and some cattle are those which they have forbidden riding upon, and some cattle over which they do not mention the name of Allah while slaughtering – all this is fabricating lies against Allah; He will soon repay them for their fabrications. 138 And they say: "All that is in the wombs of such-and-such cattle is reserved for our males and forbidden to our women; but if it be stillborn, then both may have their share thereof." [God] will requite them for all that they [falsely] attribute [to Him]: behold, He is wise, all-knowing. 139 Lost, indeed, are they who, in their weak-minded ignorance, slay their children and declare as forbidden that which God has provided for them as sustenance, falsely ascribing [such prohibitions] to God: they have gone astray and have not found the right path. 140