“O you groups of jinns and men! Did not the Noble Messengers amongst you come to you reciting My verses and warning you of confronting this day?” They will say, “We testify against ourselves” – and the worldly life deceived them and they will testify against themselves that they were disbelievers. 130 This is because your Lord would not destroy the (populations of) towns for their wrong-doing (i.e. associating others in worship along with Allah) while their people were unaware (so the Messengers were sent). 131 All have degrees according to what they have done; thy Lord is not heedless of the things they do. 132 Your Lord is Self-sufficient and Merciful. Had He wanted, He could have destroyed you and replaced you by other people, just as He had created you from the offspring of others. 133 Verily that which ye are promised is sure to arrive, and ye cannot escape. 134 Say: "O my [unbelieving] people! Do yet all that may be within your power, [while] I, behold, shall labour [in God's way]; and in time you will come to know to whom the future belongs. Verily, never will evildoers attain to a happy state!" 135 And they set apart a portion for Allah out of what He has created of tilth and cattle, and say: This is for Allah-- so they assert-- and this for our associates; then what is for their associates, it reaches not to Allah, and whatever is (set apart) for Allah, it reaches to their associates; evil is that which they judge. 136 To many of the pagans, the murder of their children was made to seem attractive by the idols. This led them (the pagans) to confusion in their religion and to face their own destruction. Had God wanted, they would not have murdered their children. Keep away from them and their evil gains. 137 They also say, "These animals and these crops are forbidden. None may eat them except those we permit." So they claim! There are some animals they exempt from labour and some over which they do not pronounce God's name, thus committing a sin against Him. He will requite them for the falsehoods they invent. 138 And they say: "Whatever is in the wombs of these cattle is only meant for men and forbidden our women; but in case it should be still-born both could eat it." God will punish them for what they assert. He is all-wise and all-knowing. 139 Losers indeed are they who kill their children foolishly and without knowledge and declare as forbidden what God has provided for them as sustenance -- a fabrication against God: they have gone astray and have not chosen to be rightly guided. 140