And how many a town which was iniquitous did We demolish, and We raised up after it another people! 11 And when they tasted Our punishment, they immediately started fleeing from it. 12 'Do not run away. Return to your luxury that you rejoiced in, and your homes in order that you 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 We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in play. 16 [for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all! 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 And whoever is in the heavens and the earth is His; and those who are with Him are not proud to serve Him, nor do they grow weary. 19 They glorify (Him) night and day; they flag not. 20 And yet some people choose to worship certain earthly things or beings as deities that [are supposed to] resurrect [the dead; and they fail to realize that,] 21 Had there been other deities in the heavens and the earth besides God, both the heavens and the earth would have been destroyed. God, the Lord of the Throne, is too Glorious to be as they think He is. 22 He shall not be questioned as to what He does, but they shall he questioned. 23 Or, have they taken gods besides Him? Say: Bring your proof; this is the reminder of those with me and the reminder of those before me. Nay! most of them do not know the truth, so they turn aside. 24 And We sent not before thee an apostle but We revealed unto him that there is no god but I, so worship Me. 25 And they say: The Beneficent hath taken unto Himself a son. Be He Glorified! Nay, but (those whom they call sons) are honoured slaves; 26 They speak not until He hath spoken, and they act by His command. 27 He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede without His permission. Indeed they themselves stand in awe of Him. 28 ۞ If any of them should say, "I am a god besides Him", such a one We should reward with Hell: thus do We reward those who do wrong. 29