And verily We have displayed for mankind in this Qur'an all manner of similitudes, but man is more than anything contentious. 54 And nothing has prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them and from asking forgiveness of their Lord except that there [must] befall them the [accustomed] precedent of the former peoples or that the punishment should come [directly] before them. 55 But We send [Our] message-bearers only as heralds of glad tidings and as warners - whereas those who are bent on denying the truth contend [against them] with fallacious arguments, so as to render void the truth thereby, and to make My messages and warnings a target of their mockery. 56 And who does greater evil than he who, being reminded of the signs of his Lord, turns away from them and forgets what his hands have forwarded? Surely We have laid veils on their hearts lest they understand it, and in their ears heaviness; and though thou callest them to the guidance, yet they will not be guided ever. 57 And thy Lord is the Forgiver, Owner of mercy. Were He to call them to account for that which they have earned; He would have hastened for them torment; but for them is a tryst beside which they cannot find a place to betake themselves to. 58 And (all) those townships! We destroyed them when they did wrong, and We appointed a fixed time for their destruction. 59