۞ Sanction is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged; and Allah is indeed Able to give them victory; 39 those who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying: "Our Sustainer is God!" For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques - in [all of] which God's name is abundantly extolled - would surely have been destroyed [ere now]. And God will most certainly succour him who succours His cause: for, verily, God is most powerful, almighty, 40 The people who, if We give them control in the land, would keep the prayer established and pay charity and enjoin virtue and forbid from evil; and for Allah only is the result of all works. 41 AND IF THEY [who are bent on denying the truth] give thee the lie, [O Muhammad, remember that, long] before their time, the people of Noah and [the tribes of] Ad and Thamud gave the lie [to their prophets,] 42 and the people of Abraham, the people of Lot, 43 (And) the dwellers in Midian. And Moses was denied; but I indulged the disbelievers a long while, then I seized them, and how (terrible) was My abhorrence! 44 How many a city have We destroyed, while it was a wrong-doer - and it lieth overturned on its roofs, and how many a well abandoned and how many a castle fortifred! 45 Have they not travelled (sufficiently) in the land to have understanding hearts and listening ears? It is their hearts which are blind, not their ears. 46 And they demand of thee to hasten the chastisement! God will not fail His promise; and surely a day with thy Lord is as a thousand years of your counting. 47 And how many a city did I give reins to, while it wronged itself, then took hold of it! and unto Me is the return. 48