How many a town (community), that were wrong-doers, have We destroyed, and raised up after them another people! 11 And when its inhabitants perceived Our punishment, at once they fled from it. 12 Do not fly (now) and come back to what you were made to lead easy lives in and to your dwellings, haply you will be questioned. 13 They said: "Woe to us; surely we were wrong-doers." 14 And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is mown, as ashes silent and quenched. 15 Not for (idle) sport did We create the heavens and the earth and all that is between! 16 Had We intended to take a pastime (i.e. a wife or a son, etc.), We could surely have taken it from Us, if We were going to do (that). 17 We bring forward the Truth to crush and destroy falsehood; it is doomed to be banished. Woe to you for your way of thinking about God! 18 And to Him only belong all those who are in the heavens and in the earth; and those with Him are not conceited towards worshipping Him, nor do they tire. 19 They exalt [Him] night and day [and] do not slacken. 20 Or have they taken gods from the earth who can raise the dead? 21 Had there been therein (in the heavens and the earth) gods besides Allah, then verily both would have been ruined. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, (High is He) above what they attribute to Him! 22 He will not be questioned as to that which He doeth, but they will be questioned. 23 Or have they taken gods besides Him? Say, [O Muhammad], "Produce your proof. This [Qur'an] is the message for those with me and the message of those before me." But most of them do not know the truth, so they are turning away. 24 And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me." 25 They say:' 'The All-merciful has taken to Him a son.' Glory be to Him! Nay, but they are honoured servants 26 they speak not until He has spoken unto them, and [whenever they act,] they act at His behest. 27 He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede without His permission. Indeed they themselves stand in awe of Him. 28 ۞ If any of them says, 'I am a god apart from Him', such a one We recompense with Gehenna; even so We recompense the evildoers. 29