Verily God knows the unknown of the heavens and the earth. Indeed He knows what lies in the hearts of men. 38 It is He Who has made you the successors of your predecessors in the earth; so whoever disbelieves – (the harm of) his disbelief falls only on him; and for the disbelievers, their disbelief increases nothing in their Lord’s sight except disgust; and for the disbelievers, their disbelief increases nothing for them except ruin. 39 Say thou: what bethink ye of your associate-gods upon which ye call besides Allah? Show me whatsoever they have created of the earth. Or, have they any partnership in the heavens? Or have We vouchsafed to them a Book so that they stand on an evidence therefrom? Nay! the wrong-doers promise each other only delusions. 40 ۞ God holds the heavens and the earth, lest they remove; did they remove, none would hold them after Him. Surely He is All-clement, All-forgiving. 41 And they swore by Allah most vehemently in their oaths, that if a Herald of Warning came to them, they would be more upon guidance than any other group; then when a Herald of Warning did come to them, he increased nothing in them except hatred. 42 (Shown in their) behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil; and the evil plot encloseth but the men who make it. Then, can they expect aught save the treatment of the folk of old? Thou wilt not find for Allah's way of treatment any substitute, nor wilt thou find for Allah's way of treatment aught of power to change. 43 Have they not journeyed in the land and seen how the end of those before them, who were far more powerful, came about? There is nothing in the heavens and the earth that can defeat (the law of) God. He is all-knowing and all-powerful. 44 And were Allah to punish men for what they earn, He would not leave on the back of it any creature, but He respites them till an appointed term; so when their doom shall come, then surely Allah is Seeing with respect to His servants. 45