We sent Messengers before you (Muhammad) and gave them wives and offspring. No Messenger was to show miracles without the permission of God. 38 Allah doth blot out or confirm what He pleaseth: with Him is the Mother of the Book. 39 BUT WHETHER We let thee see [in thy lifetime, O Prophet, the fulfilment of] some of what We have promised them, or whether We cause thee to die [before its fulfilment] - thy duty is no more than to deliver the message; and the reckoning is Ours. 40 Have they not seen that We set upon the land, reducing it from its borders? And Allah decides; there is no adjuster of His decision. And He is swift in account. 41 Surely those who had gone before them had also plotted; but God's is all the planning, for He has knowledge of what each does. The unbelievers will soon learn for whom is the guerdon of Paradise. 42 And those who have disbelieved say, "You are not a messenger." Say, [O Muhammad], "Sufficient is Allah as Witness between me and you, and [the witness of] whoever has knowledge of the Scripture." 43