For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it 12 "Do not flee; go back to your halls of pleasure and your habitations, so that you may be interrogated." 13 They said, 'Alas for us! We have been evildoers.' 14 And that declaration of theirs did not cease until We made them [as] a harvest [mowed down], extinguished [like a fire]. 15 And We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, unnecessarily. 16 If We had wished to find a pastime, We could have found it in Our presence - if We ever did. 17 We will hurl the truth at falsehood, the falsehood shall be crushed and will disappear. Woe to you for what you utter. 18 And His is whosoever is in the heavens and the earth; and those nigh unto Him are not too stiff-necked for His worship nor are they weary. 19 They glorify (Him) night and day; they flag not. 20 Have they taken gods from the earth who raise the deed? 21 If there were therein gods beside Allah, then verily both (the heavens and the earth) had been disordered. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe (unto Him). 22 He shall not be questioned as to what He does, but they shall he questioned. 23 and yet, they choose to worship [imaginary] deities instead of Him! Say [O Prophet]: "Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this is a reminder [unceasingly voiced] by those who are with me, just as it was a reminder [voiced] by those who came before me." But nay, most of them do not know the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away [from it] 24 and [this despite the fact that even] before thy time We never sent any apostle without having revealed to him that there is no deity save Me, - [and that,] therefore, you shall worship Me [alone]! 25 They say 'The Merciful has taken a son' Exaltations to Him! No, they are only His honored worshipers, 26 they do not try to speak ahead of Him, and they act at His command. 27 He knows what is before them, and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede except for him with whom He is pleased. And they stand in awe for fear of Him. 28 ۞ And the one among them who says, “I am a God beside Allah” – We shall reward him with hell; this is how We punish the unjust. 29