We have sent forth other Messengers before you and given them wives and descendants. Yet none of them could bring a sign except by the permission of Allah. Every term has its Book. 38 God annuls or confirms whatever He wills [of His earlier messages] - for with Him is the source of all revelation. 39 Whether We allow you to see (the punishment) We have promised them, or end your life before (its execution), it is certainly for you to convey the message; the reckoning is for Us to do. 40 Do they not see that We are bringing destruction upon the land by curtailing it of its sides? And Allah pronounces a doom-- there is no repeller of His decree, and He is swift to take account. 41 Those before them did (also) devise plots; but in all things the master-planning is Allah's He knoweth the doings of every soul: and soon will the Unbelievers know who gets home in the end. 42 (Muhammad), the unbelievers say, "You are not a Messenger." Say, "God and those who have the knowledge of the Book are sufficient witness (to my prophethood)." 43