The worshippers of false gods say: "If Allah had so willed, we should not have worshipped aught but Him - neither we nor our fathers,- nor should we have prescribed prohibitions other than His." So did those who went before them. But what is the mission of messengers but to preach the Clear Message? 35 And verily We have raised in every nation a messenger, (proclaiming): Serve Allah and shun false gods. Then some of them (there were) whom Allah guided, and some of them (there were) upon whom error had just hold. Do but travel in the land and see the nature of the consequence for the deniers! 36 If thou art anxious for their guidance, yet Allah guideth not such as He leaves to stray, and there is none to help them. 37 They swear emphatically in the name of God that God will not raise the dead. On the contrary, it is a promise incumbent on Him, though most men do not understand, 38 (Through the resurrection) God wants to make a clear distinction between right and wrong and make the unbelievers know that they were liars. 39 Indeed, Our word to a thing when We intend it is but that We say to it, "Be," and it is. 40