And assuredly We have variously propounded in this Qur'an for mankind every kind of similitude; and man is of all things the most disputing. 54 Nothing prevents people from believing when they are given guidance or from asking forgiveness of their Lord, but the fact that the fate of the previous peoples should befall them or to have the punishment come upon them face to face. 55 And We do not send the Noble Messengers except as Heralds of glad tidings and warnings; and the disbelievers debate by means of falsehood to drive away the Truth with it, and they took My signs and warnings they were given, as a mockery! 56 And who doth greater wrong than he who hath been reminded of the revelations of his Lord, yet turneth away from them and forgetteth what his hands send forward (to the Judgment)? Lo! on their hearts We have placed coverings so that they understand not, and in their ears a deafness. And though thou call them to the guidance, in that case they can never be led aright. 57 And your Lord is the Forgiving, full of mercy. If He were to impose blame upon them for what they earned, He would have hastened for them the punishment. Rather, for them is an appointment from which they will never find an escape. 58 All the townships afflicted with scourge are before your eyes. When they committed wrong, We destroyed them. For the destruction of each We had set a definite term. 59