And this, too, is a divine writ which We have bestowed from on high, a blessed one: follow it, then, and be conscious of God, so that you might be graced with His 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 ye should say: If the Scripture had been revealed unto us, we surely had been better guided than are they. Now hath there come unto you a clear proof from your Lord, a guidance and mercy; and who doeth greater wrong than he who denieth the revelations of Allah, and turneth away from them? We award unto those who turn away from Our revelations an evil doom because of their aversion. 157 What! Do they wait either for the angels to appear before them or for your Lord to come unto them or for some clear signs of your Lord to appear before them? When some clear signs of your Lord will appear, believing will be of no avail to anyone who did not believe before, or who earned no good deeds through his faith. Say: 'Wait on; we too are waiting.' 158 Surely they who divided their religion into parts and became sects, you have no concern with them; their affair is only with Allah, then He will inform them of what they did. 159 Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. 160 Say, "My Lord has guided me to a straight path, and to an upright religion, the religion of Abraham the upright, who was not of those who associate partners with God." 161 Say: 'My prayers and my worship (for example, pilgrimage and sacrifice), my life and my death, are all for Allah, the Lord of the Worlds. 162 in whose divinity none has a share: for thus have I been bidden - and I shall [always] be foremost among those who surrender themselves unto Him." 163 (Muhammad), tell them, "Should I take a lord besides God when He is the Lord of all things?" All one's evil deeds are against one's own soul. No one will be considered responsible for another's sins. You will all be returned to your Lord who will tell you what is right and wrong in disputed matters among you. 164 It is He who has made you caliphs in the earth and raised some of you in rank above others, so that He might try you in what He has given you. Swift is your Lord in retribution; yet He is Forgiving, Merciful. 165