And how many a city have We overthrown which were doing wrong, and We caused to grow up thereafter another nation! 11 And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it 12 Flee not, and return unto that wherein ye luxuriated and your habitations, haply ye will be questioned. 13 They cried: Alas for us! we were wrong-doers. 14 And this remained their lament till We mowed them down and made them extinct. 15 It was not in play that We created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them. 16 If We had pleased to make a plaything We could have made it Ourself, if We had cared to do so. 17 Nay, We hurl the Truth against falsehood, and it knocks out its brain, and behold, falsehood doth perish! Ah! woe be to you for the (false) things ye ascribe (to Us). 18 To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and on the earth and those that are with Him are never too proud to worship Him, nor do they grow weary; 19 they extol His limitless glory by night and by day, never flagging [therein]. 20 Or have they taken gods from the earth who raise (the dead). 21 If there had been in the heavens and on the earth, other deities besides God, both the heavens and earth would be ruined. God, Lord of the throne, is far above that which they ascribe to Him. 22 None shall question Him about what He does, but they shall be questioned. 23 Or have they taken gods apart from Him? Say: 'Bring your proof! This is the Remembrance of him who is with me, and the Remembrance of those before me. Nay, but the most part of them know not the truth, so therefore they are turning away. 24 Not a messenger did We send before thee without this inspiration sent by Us to him: that there is no god but I; therefore worship and serve Me. 25 And yet they say: "Ar-Rahman has begotten a son." Too exalted is He! In fact, those (they call His sons) were His honoured votaries. 26 They speak not until He hath spoken, and they act by His command. 27 He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already] graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him. 28 ۞ And whosoever of them should say: verily I am a god beside Him, such a one We shall requite with Hell; thus We requite the wrong-doers. 29