Say thou unto My bondmen that they should say that which is best, Verily the Satan would stir up strife between them; verily the Satan is unto men ever an enemy manifest. 53 Your Lord is Best Aware of you. If He will, He will have mercy on you, or if He will, He will punish you. We have not sent thee (O Muhammad) as a warden over them. 54 Your Lord knows whoever is in the heavens and the earth. We exalted some of the prophets over the others; and to David We gave the Book of Psalms. 55 Say: 'Call to those whom you assert, other than Him. They have neither the power to remove your affliction nor to transfer it' 56 Those unto whom they cry seek the way of approach to their Lord, which of them shall be the nearest; they hope for His mercy and they fear His doom. Lo! the doom of thy Lord is to be shunned. 57 The decree that all the towns were to be destroyed or afflicted with severe punishment was already written in the Book before the Day of Judgment. 58 And We remained constrained from sending such signs, because the former people denied them; and We gave the Thamud the she-camel for enlightenment, so they oppressed it; and We do not send such signs except to warn. 59 And [remember, O Muhammad], when We told you, "Indeed, your Lord has encompassed the people." And We did not make the sight which We showed you except as a trial for the people, as was the accursed tree [mentioned] in the Qur'an. And We threaten them, but it increases them not except in great transgression. 60