We sent Messengers before you (Muhammad) and gave them wives and offspring. No Messenger was to show miracles without the permission of God. 38 Allah effaces whatever He wills and retains whatever He wills. With Him is the Mother of the Book. 39 (O Prophet), whether We make you see a part of the punishment that We have threatened them with come to pass during your life-time, or We take you away before that happens, your duty is no more than to convey the Message, and it is for Us to make a reckoning. 40 Have they not considered that We have taken over the land and reduced its borders? It is God who issues the irreversible decree and His reckoning is swift. 41 And those before them did indeed make plans, but all planning is Allah's; He knows what every soul earns, and the unbelievers shall come to know for whom is the (better) issue of the abode. 42 And those who disbelieve, say: "You (O Muhammad SAW) are not a Messenger." Say: "Sufficient for a witness between me and you is Allah and those too who have knowledge of the Scripture (such as 'Abdullah bin Salam and other Jews and Christians who embraced Islam)." 43