Allah knows all what is inside the womb of every female, and every increase and decrease of the wombs; and all things are with Him by a set measure. 8 Knower of the hidden and the manifest! the Great! the Exalted. 9 It makes no difference whether you converse in secret or aloud, whether you hide under the cloak of night or walk about freely in the light of day. 10 For his sake there are angels following one another, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's commandment; surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector. 11 He it is Who causes you to see lightning that inspires you with both fear and hope, and He it is Who whips up heavy clouds. 12 And the thunder halloweth His praise, and so do the angels in awe of Him; and He sendeth the thunderbolts and smiteth therewith whomsoever He will. And they dispute concerning Allah, and He is strong in prowess. 13 To Him [alone] is the supplication of truth. And those they call upon besides Him do not respond to them with a thing, except as one who stretches his hands toward water [from afar, calling it] to reach his mouth, but it will not reach it [thus]. And the supplication of the disbelievers is not but in error [i.e. futility]. 14 All that is in the heavens and the earth prostrates itself, whether willingly or by force, before Allah; and so do their shadows in the morning and in the evening. ۩ 15 Ask them: "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "Allah." Tell them: "Have you taken beside Him as your patrons those who do not have the power to benefit or to hurt even themselves?" Say: "Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equals? Or can light and darkness be deemed equals?" If that is not so, then have those whom they associate with Allah in His Divinity ever created anything like what Allah did so that the question of creation has become dubious to them? Say: "Allah is the creator of everything. He is the One, the Irresistible." 16 He sends down water from the skies, which flows in channels according to their capacity, with the scum borne on the surface of the torrent, as rises the scum when metals are heated on the fire for making ornaments and household utensils. This is how God determines truth and falsehood. The scum disappears like the foam on the bank, and that which is useful to man remains on the earth. That is how God sets forth precepts of wisdom. 17 For those who respond to their Lord is good; and (as for) those who do not respond to Him, had they all that is in the earth and the like thereof with it they would certainly offer it for a ransom. (As for) those, an evil reckoning shall be theirs and their abode is hell, and evil is the resting-place. 18