We did send messengers before thee, and appointed for them wives and children: and it was never the part of a messenger to bring a sign except as Allah permitted (or commanded). For each period is a Book (revealed). 38 Allah abolisheth whatsoever He will and keepeth; and with Him is the mother of the Book. 39 Whether We let thee see something of that which We have promised them, or make thee die (before its happening), thine is but conveyance (of the message). Ours the 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 Now those who lived before these [sinners] did, too, devise many a blasphemy - but the most subtle devising is that of God, who knows what each human being deserves: and the deniers of the truth will [in time] come to know to whom the future belongs. 42 And those who disbelieve say: thou art not a sent one. Say thou: Allah is a sufficient witness between me and you, and also he with whom is knowledge of the Book. 43