People pray as earnestly to gain evil as one should to gain virtue. But people are hasty. 11 We have appointed the night and the day as two signs; then We have blotted out the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day to see, and that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the number of the years, and the reckoning; and everything We have distinguished very distinctly. 12 We have tied the fate of every man about his neck; and We shall produce a book for him on Resurrection Day that he will find spread open. 13 'Read thy book! Thy soul suffices thee this day as a reckoner against thee.' 14 Whosoever is guided, is only guided to his own gain, and whosoever goes astray, it is only to his own loss; no soul laden bears the load of another. We never chastise, until We send forth a Messenger. 15 "And when We destroy a human habitation We send Our command to (warn) its people living a life of ease; and when they disobey, the sentence against them is justified, and We destroy them utterly. 16 And how many generations have We destroyed after Nuh (Noah)! And Sufficient is your Lord as an All-Knower and All-Beholder of the sins of His slaves. 17 If anyone desires immediate benefits, We hasten to grant whatever benefits We will in the present life to whomsoever We please, but thereafter We decree for him Hell wherein he shall burn, condemned and rejected. 18 But he who desires the Hereafter and strives for it in the manner he should, and is a true believer, his striving will come to fruition. 19 Each We succour, these and those, from thy Lord's gift; and thy Lord's gift is not confined. 20 See how We prefer one of them above another, and verily the Hereafter will be greater in degrees and greater in preferment. 21 Set not up with Allah any other ilah (god), (O man)! (This verse is addressed to Prophet Muhammad SAW, but its implication is general to all mankind), or you will sit down reproved, forsaken (in the Hell-fire). 22