And We have sent down this blessed Book (the Holy Koran). Follow it and be cautious in order that you receive mercy, 155 [It has been given to you] lest you say: "Only unto two groups of people, [both of them] before our time, has a divine writ been bestowed from on high and we were indeed unaware of their teachings"; 156 or lest you say, 'If the Book had been sent down upon us, we had surely been more rightly guided than they.' Yet indeed a clear sign has come to you from your Lord, and a guidance and a mercy; and who does greater evil than he who cries lies to God's signs, and turns away from them? We shall surely recompense those who turn away from Our signs with an evil chastisement for their turning away. 157 They await indeed that the angel should come unto them, or that thy Lord should come or that certain of the signs of thy Lord should come. On the Day whereon certain of the signs of thy Lord will come, belief will not profit any person who had not believed theretofore or had not earned any good by his belief. Say thou: so wait ye verily we also are waiting. 158 Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects - you, [O Muhammad], are not [associated] with them in anything. Their affair is only [left] to Allah; then He will inform them about what they used to do. 159 Whosoever will come with a virtue for him shall be then like thereof, and whosoever will come with a vice shall not be requited save with the like thereof; and they shall not be wronged. 160 Say: 'As for me, my Lord has guided me to a straight path, a right religion, the creed of Abraham, a man of pure faith; he was no idolater.' 161 Say: "Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death, are (all) for Allah, the Cherisher of the Worlds: 162 No associate has He; and this am I commanded, and I am the first of those who submit. 163 Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)? Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed." 164 It is He who has made you successors [of others] on the earth and has exalted some of you over the others in degrees of rank, so that He may test you by that which He has given you. Your Lord is swift in punishment; yet surely He is forgiving, and merciful. 165