Those who associate [others with God] say, "If God had so willed we would not have worshipped anything besides Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything without His sanction." So did those who went before them. The duty of the messengers is only to convey the message clearly. 35 And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Serve Allah and shun false gods. Then some of them (there were) whom Allah guided, and some of them (there were) upon whom error had just hold. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of the consequence for the deniers! 36 Though you [Prophet] may be eager to guide them, God does not guide those whom He lets go astray, [because of their refusal to give a positive response to the truth]. They will have no supporters. 37 They swear emphatically in the name of God that God will not raise the dead. On the contrary, it is a promise incumbent on Him, though most men do not understand, 38 so that He may make clear to them that whereon they were at variance, and that the unbelievers may know that they were truly liars. 39 Yet when We will a thing We have only to say: "Be", and it is. 40