Whenever We let mankind taste mercy after some adversity has afflicted them, they forthwith turn to devising false arguments against Our signs. Say, "God is swifter in His devising! Our angels are recording your intrigues." 21 It is He Who transports you over the land and the sea; to the extent that when you are in ships – and the ships sail with them with a favourable breeze and they rejoice at it – a gust of strong wind reaches them and waves come to them from every side and they realise that they are surrounded, – thereupon they pray to Allah as His sincere bondmen that, “If You rescue us from this, we will surely be thankful.” 22 But when He has delivered them, they begin, wrongfully to commit excesses in the land. O you men, your excesses only affect your own selves. Have the enjoyment of the present life. Then to Us you shall return; and We will inform you of all that you have done. 23 Verily the likeness of (this) worldly life is as the water (rain) which We send down from the sky, so by it arises the intermingled produce of the earth of which men and cattle eat until when the earth is clad with its adornments and is beautified, and its people think that they have all the powers of disposal over it, Our Command reaches it by night or by day and We make it like a clean-mown harvest, as if it had not flourished yesterday! Thus do We explain the Ayat (proofs, evidences, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, laws, etc.) in detail for the people who reflect. 24 And Allah calls to the abode of peace, and guides whomever He wills on the Straight Path. 25 ۞ The righteous will receive good reward for their deeds and more. Their faces will suffer no disgrace or ignominy. They will be the dwellers of Paradise wherein they will live forever. 26 And (for) those who earned evil*, the recompense of evil is equal to it – and disgrace will come upon them; they will have no one to save them from Allah; as if their faces are covered with pieces of the dark night; it is they who are the people of the fire; they will remain in it forever. (* The disbelievers.) 27 For, one Day We shall gather them all together, and then We shall say unto those who [in their lifetime] ascribed divinity to aught but God, "Stand where you are, you and those [beings and powers] to whom you were wont to ascribe a share in God's divinity! - for by then We shall have [visibly] separated them from one another. And the beings to whom they had ascribed a share in God's divinity will say [to those who had worshipped them,] "It was not us that you were wont to worship; 28 "Enough is Allah for a witness between us and you: we certainly knew nothing of your worship of us!" 29 Then each will see what he had done in the past; and they will turn to God, their true Lord, and all the lies they had fabricated will be of no avail to them. 30