۞ And were Allah to hasten the ill unto mankind as their desire for hastening the good, their term would surely have been decreed unto them. So We let alone those who hope not for the meeting with Us, wandering in their exorbitance perplexed. 11 And when affliction touches a man, he calls on Us, whether lying on his side or sitting or standing; but when We remove his affliction from him, he passes on as though he had never called on Us on account of an affliction that touched him; thus that which they do is made fair-seeming to the extravagant. 12 Generations before you We destroyed when they did wrong: their messengers came to them with clear-signs, but they would not believe! thus do We requite those who sin! 13 Then We appointed you viceroys in the earth after them, that We might behold how you would do. 14 And whenever Our clear revelations are recited to them, those who do not expect to meet Us say: 'Bring us a Qur'an other than this one, or at least make changes in it. Tell them (O Muhammad): 'It is not for me to change it of my accord. I only follow what is revealed to me. Were I to disobey my Lord, I fear the chastisement of an Awesome Day. 15 Say: If Allah had so willed I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. I dwelt among you a whole lifetime before it (came to me). Have ye then no sense? 16 And who could be more wicked than they who attribute their own lying inventions to God or give the lie to His messages? Verily, those who are lost in sin will never attain to a happy state 17 And they worship other than Allah that which neither harms them nor benefits them, and they say, "These are our intercessors with Allah." Say, "Do you inform Allah of something He does not know in the heavens or on the earth?" Exalted is He and high above what they associate with Him 18 Mankind were only one nation* and then they differed, and had it not been for a promise** from your Lord, the matters in which they differed would have been decided here itself. (* On one proper faith. ** The account on the Last Day.) 19 And they will say: If only a portent were sent down upon him from his Lord! Then say, (O Muhammad): The Unseen belongeth to Allah. So wait! Lo! I am waiting with you. 20