Many an apostle have they mocked before you; but I allowed the unbelievers respite, then I seized them. How severe was My punishment then! 32 Is then He who watches over every soul and its actions [like any other]? Yet they ascribe partners to God. Say, "Name them! Or do you presume to inform Him of something on the earth of which He does not know? Or, is all this only your verbal assertion?" Indeed, their devices seem fair to those who deny the truth, and they are kept back from the right path. There can be no guide for those whom God lets go astray. 33 For them is torment in the life of the world, and verily the doom of the Hereafter is more painful, and they have no defender from Allah. 34 ۞ A similitude of the Garden which is promised unto those who keep their duty (to Allah): Underneath it rivers flow; its food is everlasting, and its shade; this is the reward of those who keep their duty, while the reward of disbelievers is the Fire. 35 And those to whom We have given the Book rejoice in what is sent down unto thee; and of the parties some reject some of it. Say: 'I have only been commanded to serve God, and not to associate aught with Him. To Him I call, and to Him I turn.' 36 Thus, then, have We bestowed from on high this [divine writ] as an ordinance in the Arabic tongue. And indeed, if thou shouldst defer to men's likes and dislikes after all the [divine] knowledge that has come unto thee, thou wouldst have none to protect thee from God, and none to shield thee [from Him]. 37