How many a wrong-doing town did We shatter and then raise up another people. 11 Then, when they perceived (saw) Our Torment (coming), behold, they (tried to) flee from it. 12 (They were told): "Flee not, but return to your comforts and to your dwellings. You are likely to be questioned." 13 They said, "O woe to us! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 14 And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is mown, as ashes silent and quenched. 15 We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them for a (mere) play. 16 [for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all! 17 Aye! We hurl truth against falsehood, so that it braineth it, and lo! it vanisheth; and to you be the woe for that which ye utter! 18 To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth; and those who are with Him wax not too proud to do Him service neither grow weary, 19 They exalt [Him] night and day [and] do not slacken. 20 Have they taken gods from the earth who raise the deed? 21 Had there been within the heavens and earth gods besides Allah, they both would have been ruined. So exalted is Allah, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe. 22 He is not to be questioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned. 23 Have they taken other deities besides Him? Say to them, "Bring your proofs. This is the reminder of those who are with me and the reminder of those who were before me." But most of them do not know the truth, and so they turn away from it. 24 And We sent not before thee an apostle but We revealed unto him that there is no god but I, so worship Me. 25 And they say: The Beneficent Allah has taken to Himself a son. Glory be to Him. Nay! they are honored servants 26 they speak not until He has spoken unto them, and [whenever they act,] they act at His behest. 27 He knows whatever is before them and whatsoever is remote from them and they do not intercede except for him, intercession on whose behalf pleases Him, and they stand constantly in awe of Him. 28 ۞ If any one of them says: 'I am a god other than Him' We will recompense him with Gehenna (Hell). As such We recompense the harmdoers. 29