Allah knows what every female bears; and what the wombs fall short of (in gestation), and what they may add. With Him everything is in a fixed measure. 8 the Knower of the unseen and the visible, the All-great, the All-exalted: 9 It is the same [to Him] concerning you whether one conceals [his] speech or one publicizes it and whether one is hidden by night or conspicuous [among others] by day. 10 There are guardians over everyone, both before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's command. Verily Allah does not change a people's condition unless they change their inner selves. And when Allah decides to make a people suffer punishment, no one can avert it. Nor can any be of help to such a people against Allah. 11 HE IT IS who displays before you the lightning, to give rise to [both] fear and hope, and calls heavy clouds into being; 12 And Ar-Ra'd (thunder) glorifies and praises Him, and so do the angels because of His Awe, He sends the thunderbolts, and therewith He strikes whom He wills, yet they (disbelievers) dispute about Allah. And He is Mighty in strength and Severe in punishment. 13 To Him is the call of truth; and those upon whom they call, apart from Him, answer them nothing, but it is as a man who stretches out his hands to water that it may reach his mouth, and it reaches it not. The prayer of the unbelievers goes only astray. 14 To God bow all who are in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, as do their shadows also in the mornings and the evenings. ۩ 15 Say (O Muhammad SAW): "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say: "(It is) Allah." Say: "Have you then taken (for worship) Auliya' (protectors, etc.) other than Him, such as have no power either for benefit or for harm to themselves?" Say: "Is the blind equal to the one who sees? Or darkness equal to light? Or do they assign to Allah partners who created the like of His creation, so that the creation (which they made and His creation) seemed alike to them." Say: "Allah is the Creator of all things, He is the One, the Irresistible." 16 He sends down water from the sky and the valleys (wadis) flow each in their measure, and the torrent carries a swelling scum; and fire from that which they kindle; desiring ornament or ware, from that rises a scum like it. As such, Allah strikes both the truth and the false. As for the scum it is cast away as jetsam, but, that which profits people remains on the earth. As such Allah strikes the parables. 17 For those who answer their Lord, the reward most fair; and those who answer Him not -- if they possessed all that is in the earth and the like of it with it, they would offer it for their ransom. Those theirs shall be the evil reckoning, and their refuge shall be Gehenna -- an evil cradling! 18