And We have already sent messengers before you and assigned to them wives and descendants. And it was not for a messenger to come with a sign except by permission of Allah. For every term is a decree. 38 Allah effaceth what He will, and establisheth (what He will), and with Him is the source of ordinance. 39 And whether We show you a promise that is given to them, or call you to Us before it – so in any case, upon you is just the conveyance*, and for Us is the taking of the account. (* Of the message.) 40 Do they not see how We come to [their] land and shrink its borders? God decides, no one can reverse His decision, and He is swift in reckoning. 41 And indeed those before them had plotted; therefore Allah Himself is the Master of all strategies; He knows all what every soul earns; and soon will the disbelievers realise for whom is the final abode. 42 The disbelievers say, “You are not a (Noble) Messenger (of Allah)”; proclaim, “Allah is a Sufficient Witness between me and you, and (so is) he who has knowledge of the Book.” 43