Allah knoweth that which each female beareth and that which the wombs want and that which they exceed, and with Him everything is in due measure: 8 He knows all the unseen and seen. He is the most Great and High. 9 Alike of you is he who conceals his -- saying, and he who proclaims it, he who hides himself in the night, and he who sallies by day; 10 For his sake there are angels following one another, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's commandment; surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector. 11 It is He who makes the lightning flash for fear and hope, and raises massive clouds. 12 and the thunder glorifies Him with His praise and the angels do so too in awe of Him, and He sends His thunderbolts to strike anyone He pleases, yet they dispute about God, who is inexorable in His power. 13 To Him [alone] is the supplication of truth. And those they call upon besides Him do not respond to them with a thing, except as one who stretches his hands toward water [from afar, calling it] to reach his mouth, but it will not reach it [thus]. And the supplication of the disbelievers is not but in error [i.e. futility]. 14 All who dwell in heavens and on the earth submit to God alone, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows in the mornings and in the evenings. ۩ 15 Ask them: "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "Allah." Tell them: "Have you taken beside Him as your patrons those who do not have the power to benefit or to hurt even themselves?" Say: "Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equals? Or can light and darkness be deemed equals?" If that is not so, then have those whom they associate with Allah in His Divinity ever created anything like what Allah did so that the question of creation has become dubious to them? Say: "Allah is the creator of everything. He is the One, the Irresistible." 16 He sends down water from the skies, and the channels flow, each according to its measure: But the torrent bears away to foam that mounts up to the surface. Even so, from that (ore) which they heat in the fire, to make ornaments or utensils therewith, there is a scum likewise. Thus doth Allah (by parables) show forth Truth and Vanity. For the scum disappears like forth cast out; while that which is for the good of mankind remains on the earth. Thus doth Allah set forth parables. 17 For those who respond to their Lord is good; and (as for) those who do not respond to Him, had they all that is in the earth and the like thereof with it they would certainly offer it for a ransom. (As for) those, an evil reckoning shall be theirs and their abode is hell, and evil is the resting-place. 18