And certainly We have explained in this Quran every kind of example, and man is most of all given to contention. 54 What prevents people from having faith when guidance comes to them or from asking for forgiveness from their Lord before they face the kind of torment that the ancient people experienced or a new form of torment. 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 is more unjust than he who is reminded of the communications of his Lord, then he turns away from them and forgets what his two hands have sent before? Surely We have placed veils over their hearts lest they should understand it and a heaviness in their ears; and if you call them to the guidance, they will not ever follow the right course in that case. 57 Your Lord is the Forgiving One, the possessor of mercy. If He had to take them to task for the wrongs they have done, He would have hastened their punishment. They have an appointed time beyond which there will be no escape for them. 58 Such were the populations we destroyed when they committed iniquities; but we fixed an appointed time for their destruction. 59