For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 Then, when they perceived Our chastisement they took to their heels and fled. 12 'Run not! Return you unto the luxury that you exulted in, and your dwelling-places; haply you shall be questioned.' 13 They cried: Alas for us! we were wrong-doers. 14 And this ceased not to be their cry till We made them cut off, extinct. 15 We created not the heaven and the earth, and whatsoever between them is, as playing; 16 If We had pleased to make a plaything We could have made it Ourself, if We had cared to do so. 17 Nay, but [by the very act of creation] We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your [attempts at] defining [God] 18 And whoever is in the heavens and the earth is His; and those who are with Him are not proud to serve Him, nor do they grow weary. 19 they extol His limitless glory by night and by day, never flagging [therein]. 20 And yet some people choose to worship certain earthly things or beings as deities that [are supposed to] resurrect [the dead; and they fail to realize that,] 21 Had there been other deities in the heavens and the earth besides God, both the heavens and the earth would have been destroyed. God, the Lord of the Throne, is too Glorious to be as they think He is. 22 He is not to be questioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned. 23 Have they taken gods, other than Him? Say: 'Bring us your proof! Here is the Remembrance of he who is with me and the Remembrance of those before me' But no, most of them do not know the truth, therefore they turn away. 24 We have not sent an apostle before you without instructing him that there is no god but I, so worship Me. 25 And they say: The Beneficent Allah has taken to Himself a son. Glory be to Him. Nay! they are honored servants 26 They do not speak before He has, and they act only at His command. 27 He knows all that is in front of them and all that is behind them. (These servants of God) will not intercede with Him for anyone without His permission and they tremble in awe (before His greatness). 28 ۞ And if any of them should say: "Verily, I am an ilah (a god) besides Him (Allah)," such a one We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.). 29