Blessed is He who, if He willed, could have made for you [something] better than that - gardens beneath which rivers flow - and could make for you palaces. 10 Aye! they belie the Hour; and We have gotten ready for him who belieth the Hour a Flame. 11 When it beholdeth them from afar, they shall hear it raging and roaring. 12 And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire, they will call out there for destruction. 13 Pray not that day for one destruction, but pray for many destructions! 14 Say: "Which is better - that, or the paradise of life abiding which has been promised to the God-conscious as their reward and their journey's end 15 There will they have whatever they wish, and there abide for ever." This is a promise incumbent on your Lord which will certainly be fulfilled. 16 The day He will gather them together as well as those whom they worship besides Allah, He will ask: "Was it ye who let these My servants astray, or did they stray from the Path themselves?" 17 They will answer: "Glory to You. It was not worthy of us to seek any protector other than You. But You allowed them and their fathers a life of ease until they turned oblivious of the Reminder. They were a people impenitent. 18 [Thereupon God will say:] "And now, they [whom you regarded as divine] have given the lie to all your [past] assertions, and you can neither ward off [your punishment] nor obtain any succour! For, whoever of you has committed [such] evil, him shall We cause to taste great suffering!" 19 AND [even] before thee, [O Muhammad,] We never sent as Our message-bearers any but [mortal men] who indeed ate food [like other human beings] and went about in the market places: for [it is thus that] We cause you [human beings] to be a means of testing one another. Are you able to endure [this test] with patience? For [remember, O man,] thy Sustainer is truly all-seeing! 20