Lo! Allah is the Knower of the Unseen of the heavens and the earth. Lo! He is Aware of the secret of (men's) breasts. 38 He it is That has made you inheritors in the earth: if, then, any do reject (Allah), their rejection (works) against themselves: their rejection but adds to the odium for the Unbelievers in the sight of their Lord: their rejection but adds to (their own) undoing. 39 Say, "Have you ever considered your associate gods whom you call on besides God? Show me what it is that they have created on earth. Or have they a share in the creation of the heavens?" Or have We given them a book so that they may act on evidence from it? Indeed, the wrongdoers' promises to one another are nothing but deception. 40 ۞ Verily Allah withholdeth the heavens and the earth lest they cease; and should they cease, not any one could withhold them after Him. Verily He is ever Forbearing, Forgiving. 41 And they swear by God with a most solemn oath, that if there came a warner unto them, they would surely be better guided than any of the other communities. Then when there did come unto them a warner, it increased in them naught save aversion 42 and they behaved arrogantly in the land and plotted evil. But the plotting of evil only rebounds on those who plot. Are they but looking for the way the previous peoples [sinners] were dealt with? You will never find any change in the ways of God; nor will you ever find God's decree averted. 43 Have they not travelled in the land and seen how was the end of those before them while they were stronger than these in power? And Allah is not such that any thing in the heavens or in the earth should escape Him; surely He is Knowing, Powerful. 44 Now if God were to take men [at once] to task for whatever [wrong] they commit [on earth,] He would not leave a single living creature upon its surface. However, He grants them respite for a term set [by Him]: but when their term comes to an end - then, verily, [they come to know that] God sees all that is in [the hearts of] His servants. 45