۞ Permission (to fight) is given to those upon whom war is made because they are oppressed, and most surely Allah is well able to assist them; 39 Those who have been expelled from their homes unjustly only because they said: "Our Lord is Allah." - For had it not been that Allah checks one set of people by means of another, monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, wherein the Name of Allah is mentioned much would surely have been pulled down. Verily, Allah will help those who help His (Cause). Truly, Allah is All-Strong, All-Mighty. 40 He will certainly help those who, if given power in the land, will worship God through prayer, pay the religious tax, enjoin others do good, and prevent them from committing evil. The consequence of all things is in the hands of God. 41 And if they reject you, then already before you did the people of Nuh and Ad and Samood reject (prophets). 42 and the people of Abraham, Lot, 43 and so did the dwellers of Midian, and Moses too was branded a liar. Initially I granted respite to the unbelievers for a while and then seized them. How dreadful was My punishment! 44 And how many a township have We destroyed because it had been immersed in evildoing - and now they [all] lie deserted, with their roofs caved in! And how many a well lies abandoned, and how many a castle that [once] stood high! 45 Have these people not travelled through the land to make their hearts understand and let their ears hear; the truth is that it is not the eyes that are blind but the hearts that are in the bosoms that are blinded. 46 Yet they ask thee to hasten on the Punishment! But Allah will not fail in His Promise. Verily a Day in the sight of thy Lord is like a thousand years of your reckoning. 47 And how many a township did I suffer long though it was sinful! Then I grasped it. Unto Me is the return. 48