We have sent forth other Messengers before you and given them wives and descendants. Yet none of them could bring a sign except by the permission of Allah. Every term has its Book. 38 Allah blots out, and He establishes what He will. With Him is the Essence of the Book. 39 Whether We allow you to see (the punishment) We have promised them, or end your life before (its execution), it is certainly for you to convey the message; the reckoning is for Us to do. 40 Do they not see that We are advancing in the land, diminishing it by its borders on all sides? Allah judges, and no one has the power to reverse His judgement. He is swift in reckoning. 41 And those before them did indeed make plans, but all planning is Allah's; He knows what every soul earns, and the unbelievers shall come to know for whom is the (better) issue of the abode. 42 Those who deny the truth say, "You are not God's messenger." Say, "Sufficient is God as my witness between me and you, and those who have knowledge of the Book." 43