How many a city that was evildoing We have shattered, and set up after it another people! 11 And when they felt Our Might they fled from it. 12 "Do not flee; go back to your halls of pleasure and your habitations, so that you may be interrogated." 13 They said: O woe to us! surely we were unjust. 14 And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is reaped, extinct (dead). 15 We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them for a (mere) play. 16 Had We intended that We should choose a sport, surely We would choose it from before Us - if We were ever going to do that. 17 But in fact We hurl the truth upon falsehood, so it scatters its brains – thereupon it vanishes; and for you is the ruin due to the matters you fabricate. 18 To Him belongs all those who are in the heavens and the earth. Those who are closer to Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor do they get tired of worshipping. 19 They say His Purity night and day, and do not slacken. 20 Have they chosen deities from earth? Can such deities give life to anyone? 21 If there were therein gods beside Allah, then verily both (the heavens and the earth) had been disordered. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe (unto Him). 22 He shall be questioned not as to that which He doth, while they shall be questioned. 23 Have they taken gods besides God? Say: "Then bring your proof. Here is the Book of those who are with me, and the Book of those who have gone before me." But most men do not know the truth and turn away. 24 And We sent never a Messenger before thee except that We revealed to him, saying, 'There is no god but I; so serve Me.' 25 And they say, "The Most Merciful has taken a son." Exalted is He! Rather, they are [but] honored servants. 26 These servants do not speak before He speaks. They simply act according to His orders. 27 He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they cannot intercede except on behalf of one whom He approves. And they, from fear of Him, are apprehensive. 28 ۞ And the one among them who says, “I am a God beside Allah” – We shall reward him with hell; this is how We punish the unjust. 29