Those who associate others with Allah in His Divinity say: "Were Allah to will so, neither we nor our forefathers would have worshipped any other than Him, nor would we have prohibited anything without His command." Their predecessors proffered similar excuses. Do the Messengers have any other duty but to plainly convey the Message? 35 And indeed, within every community have We raised up an apostle [entrusted with this message]: "Worship God, and shun the powers of evil!" And among those [past generations] were people whom God graced with His guidance, just as there was among them [many a one] who inevitably fell prey to grievous error: go, then, about the earth and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth! 36 If thou art anxious for their guidance, yet Allah guideth not such as He leaves to stray, and there is none to help them. 37 They have sworn by God the most earnest oaths God will never raise up him who dies; nay, it is a promise binding upon Him, but most men know not, 38 This is in order that He may make clear to them that which they differed upon, and in order that those who disbelieve might know that they were indeed lying. 39 Verily! Our Word unto a thing when We intend it, is only that We say unto it: "Be!" and it is. 40