And [thus it is:] whenever We let [such] people taste [some of Our] grace after hardship has visited them - lo! they forthwith turn to devising false arguments against Our messages. Say: "God is swifter [than you] in His deep devising!" Behold, Our [heavenly] messengers are recording all that you may devise! 21 It is He who enables you to travel over land and sea. When you sail in ships in a favourable breeze, you rejoice. But when a gale begins to blow and the waves dash against them from every side they realise that they have been caught in it, (and) they call on God in all faith: "If You save us from this we shall ever be grateful." 22 Yet as soon as He has saved them from this [danger,] lo! they behave outrageously on earth, offending against all right! O men! All your outrageous deeds are bound to fall back upon your own selves! [You care only for] the enjoyment of life in this world: [but remember that] in the end unto Us you must return, whereupon We shall make you truly understand all that you were doing [in life]. 23 The parable of the life of this world is but that of rain which We send down from the sky, and which is absorbed by the plants of the earth whereof men and animals draw nourishment, until - when the earth has assumed its artful adornment and has been embellished, and they who dwell on it believe that they have gained mastery over it - there comes down upon it Our judgment, by night or by day, and We cause it to become [like] a field mown down, as if there had been no yesterday. Thus clearly do We spell out these messages unto people who think! 24 AND [know that] God invites [man] unto the abode of peace, and guides him that wills [to be guided] onto a straight way. 25 ۞ For the people of virtue, is goodness and more than that; and neither will the blackness nor disgrace come upon their faces; it is they who are the people of Paradise; they will abide in it forever. 26 But as for those who have done evil deeds, the recompense shall be in proportion. They will have none to defend them against God. Ignominy shall cover them, as though their faces were veiled by the night's own darkness. It is they who are destined for the fire, where they will live forever. 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 Allah is a Sufficient witness between us and you, surely, we were heedless of your worship. 29 There, [on that Day], every soul will be put to trial for what it did previously, and they will be returned to Allah, their master, the Truth, and lost from them is whatever they used to invent. 30