Allah knows what every female bears; and what the wombs fall short of (in gestation), and what they may add. With Him everything is in a fixed measure. 8 the Knower of the unseen and the visible, the All-great, the All-exalted: 9 Equal* are the one among you who speaks softly and one who speaks aloud, and one who is hidden during the night and one who walks during the daytime. (* For Allah.) 10 Each has guardian angels before him and behind him, who watch him at God's command. God does not change the condition of a people's lot, unless they change what is in their hearts. But when God decrees punishment for a people, none can ward it off. Besides Him, they have no protector. 11 It is He Who shows you the lightning, for fear and for hope, and raises the heavy clouds. 12 And Ar-Ra'd (thunder) glorifies and praises Him, and so do the angels because of His Awe, He sends the thunderbolts, and therewith He strikes whom He wills, yet they (disbelievers) dispute about Allah. And He is Mighty in strength and Severe in punishment. 13 For Him (alone) is prayer in Truth: any others that they call upon besides Him hear them no more than if they were to stretch forth their hands for water to reach their mouths but it reaches them not: for the prayer of those without Faith is nothing but (futile) wandering (in the mind). 14 And unto Allah prostrateth himself whosoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or of constraint, and also their shadows in the morning and the evenings. ۩ 15 Say thou: who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth? Say thou: Allah. Say thou: have ye then taken beside Him patrons who own not to themselves benefit nor hurt! Say thou: are the blind and the seer equal? Or, the darknesses and light equal? Or have they set up associates unto Allah, who have created even as He hath created, so that the creation hath become dubious unto them! Say thou: Allah is the Creator of everything; and He is the One, the Subduer. 16 He sends down from the sky, rain, and valleys flow according to their capacity, and the torrent carries a rising foam. And from that [ore] which they heat in the fire, desiring adornments and utensils, is a foam like it. Thus Allah presents [the example of] truth and falsehood. As for the foam, it vanishes, [being] cast off; but as for that which benefits the people, it remains on the earth. Thus does Allah present examples. 17 of those who have responded to their Sustainer with a goodly response, and of those who did not respond to Him. [As for the latter,] if they possessed all that is on earth, and twice as much, they would surely offer it as ransom [on the Day of Judgment]: a most evil reckoning awaits them, and their goal is hell: and how evil a resting-place! 18