۞ PERMISSION [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged and verily, God has indeed the power to succour them: 39 [They are] those who have been evicted from their homes without right - only because they say, "Our Lord is Allah." And were it not that Allah checks the people, some by means of others, there would have been demolished monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which the name of Allah is much mentioned. And Allah will surely support those who support Him. Indeed, Allah is Powerful and Exalted in Might. 40 The people who, if We give them control in the land, would keep the prayer established and pay charity and enjoin virtue and forbid from evil; and for Allah only is the result of all works. 41 And if they belie thee, then surely there have belied before them the people of Nuh and the 'Aad and the Thamud. 42 So did the people of Abraham and the people of Lot, 43 and the inhabitants of Midian, to Moses they also belied. I respited the unbelievers, then I seized them, and how was My disapproval! 44 And many a township have We destroyed while it was given to wrong-doing, so that it lies in ruins (up to this day), and (many) a deserted well and lofty castles! 45 Have they never journeyed through the land so that they have hearts to understand, or ears to hear with? It is not the eyes, but the hearts in the chests that are blind. 46 Yet they ask thee to hasten on the Punishment! But Allah will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. 47 And how many a town to which I gave respite while it was unjust, then I overtook it, and to Me is the return. 48