[And thus will God continue:] "O you who have lived in close communion with [evil] invisible beings and [like-minded] humans! Have there not come unto you apostles from among yourselves, who conveyed unto you My messages and warned you of the coming of this your Day [of Judgment]?" They will answer: "We do bear witness against ourselves!" - for the life of this world had beguiled them: and so they will bear witness against themselves that they had been denying the truth. 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 And for everyone are ranks from what they do; and your Lord is not unaware of their deeds. 132 Your Lord is Rich and the Owner of Mercy. He can destroy you if He will and replace you with whom He pleases, just as He raised you from the offspring of other nations. 133 The promise that was made to you is bound to be fulfilled. It is not in your power to defeat it. 134 Tell them: "O my people, go on acting on your part, I am acting on mine. You will soon know whose is the guerdon of life to come." The wicked will not succeed. 135 They assign unto Allah, of the crops and cattle which He created, a portion, and they say: "This is Allah's" - in their make-believe - "and this is for (His) partners in regard to us." Thus that which (they assign) unto His partners in them reacheth not Allah and that which (they assign) unto Allah goeth to their (so-called) partners. Evil is their ordinance. 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 say: 'These animals and these crops are sacrosanct: none may eat of them save those whom we will' - imposing interdictions of their own contriving. And they declare that it is forbidden to burden the backs of certain cattle, and these are the cattle over which they do not pronounce the name of Allah. All these are false fabrications against Allah, and He will soon requite them for all that they fabricate. 138 And they said, “The animals in the bellies of such cattle are purely for our males and forbidden to our women; and if the animal is stillborn, they all have a share of it”; soon Allah will repay them for their utterances; indeed He is Wise, All Knowing. 139 Lost are those who, without knowledge, have foolishly slain their own children and made unlawful that which Allah has provided them, fabricating lies about Allah. They have gone astray and are not guided. 140