We have sent forth other Messengers before you and given them wives and descendants. Yet none of them could bring a sign except by the permission of Allah. Every term has its Book. 38 God blots out, and He establishes whatsoever He will; and with Him is the Essence of the Book. 39 And whether We shew thee part of that which We have promised them, or We take thee away; on thee is only the preaching, and on Us is the reckoning. 40 See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? (Where) Allah commands, there is none to put back His Command: and He is swift in calling to account. 41 Those who have gone before them devised, but to Allah is the devising altogether. He knows what every soul earns. The unbelievers shall know without doubt for whom is the Ultimate Abode. 42 The unbelievers say, 'Thou art not an Envoy.' Say: 'God suffices as a witness between me and you, and whosoever possesses knowledge of the Book.' 43