How many were the populations We utterly destroyed because of their iniquities, setting up in their places other peoples? 11 So when they felt Our punishment, lo! they began to fly 12 Flee not, and return unto that wherein ye luxuriated and your habitations, haply ye will be questioned. 13 They said: 'Alas for us we were harmdoers' 14 Such was what they continued to say until We mowed them down and made them completely extinct. 15 AND [know that] We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them in mere idle play: 16 If We had wished to find a pastime, We could have found it in Our presence - if We ever did. 17 Nay, but [by the very act of creation] We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your [attempts at] defining [God] 18 To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth and those that are with Him are never too proud to worship Him, nor do they grow weary; 19 They celebrate His praises night and day, nor do they ever flag or intermit. 20 Have they chosen deities from earth? Can such deities give life to anyone? 21 If there were therein gods beside Allah, then verily both (the heavens and the earth) had been disordered. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe (unto Him). 22 He will not be questioned as to that which He doeth, but they will be questioned. 23 Or have they taken gods besides Him? Say, [O Muhammad], "Produce your proof. This [Qur'an] is the message for those with me and the message of those before me." But most of them do not know the truth, so they are turning away. 24 To all the Messengers that were sent before you We revealed that I am the only God to be worshipped. 25 And they say, "The Most Merciful has taken a son." Exalted is He! Rather, they are [but] honored servants. 26 they speak not until He has spoken unto them, and [whenever they act,] they act at His behest. 27 He knows what is before them, and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased. And they stand in awe for fear of Him. 28 ۞ The recompense of those of them who say that they are the Lord instead of God will be hell; thus, do We recompense the unjust ones. 29