۞ Had God been as hasty to punish people as they were hasty to achieve good, their life would have already ended. We will leave those who have no hope of receiving Our mercy, in the life hereafter, to continue blindly in their transgression. 11 And when affliction touches man, he calls upon Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove from him his affliction, he continues [in disobedience] as if he had never called upon Us to [remove] an affliction that touched him. Thus is made pleasing to the transgressors that which they have been doing 12 We destroyed generations before you when they did evil. (When) their Messengers came to them with clear verses they would not believe; so We recompense the sinning nation. 13 We have made you their successors in the land so that We could see how you behaved. 14 And when Our clear revelations are recited unto them, they who look not for the meeting with Us say: Bring a Lecture other than this, or change it. Say (O Muhammad): It is not for me to change it of my accord. I only follow that which is inspired in me. Lo! if I disobey my Lord I fear the retribution of an awful Day. 15 Say, "If God had so wished, I would not have recited it to you, nor would He have brought it to your knowledge. Indeed, I have spent a whole lifetime among you before it came to me. How can you not use your reason?" 16 Who, then, is a greater wrong-doer than he who forges a lie against Allah or rejects His signs as false? Surely the guilty shall not prosper. 17 And they worship other than Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allah." Say, "Do you inform Allah of something He does not know in the heavens or on the earth?" Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him 18 Mankind were only one nation, then they fell into variance. But for a word that preceded from thy Lord, it had been decided between them already touching their differences. 19 And they say: wherefore is not a sign sent down unto him from his Lord! Say thou: the hidden belongeth unto Allah alone; so wait, verily I am with you among those who wait. 20