And who could be more wicked than he who attributes his own lying inventions to God or gives the lie to His messages? Verily, such evildoers will never attain to a happy state: 21 And let them beware the Day whereon We shall gather them all together; then We shall say unto those who associated: where are your associate-gods whom ye have been asserting? 22 Attempting to answer, they will say, "Lord, we swear by Your Name that we were not pagans". 23 See how they will lie about themselves. And lost from them will be what they used to invent. 24 And there are among them such as [seem to] listen to thee [O Prophet]: but over their hearts We have laid veils which prevent them from grasping the truth, and into their ears, deafness. And were they to see every sign [of the truth,] they would still not believe in it - so much so that when they come unto thee to contend with thee, those who are bent on denying the truth say: "This is nothing but fables of ancient times!" 25 And they prevent [others] from him and are [themselves] remote from him. And they do not destroy except themselves, but they perceive [it] not. 26 If you could see them when they are set before the Fire! They will say: 'Would that we could return! Then we would not belie the verses of our Lord and would be believers' 27 No! They will say this merely because the Truth which they had concealed will become obvious to them; or else if they were sent back, they would still revert to what was forbidden to them. (So this plea of theirs would be a lie too) for they are just liars. 28 They say: 'There is only but our present life; we shall not be resurrected' 29 If you could but see when they will be made to stand before their Lord. He will say, "Is this not the truth?" They will say, "Yes, by our Lord." He will [then] say, "So taste the punishment because you used to disbelieve." 30