We had sent (Our guidance) to the nations who lived before you and afflicted them with distress and adversity so that they might submit themselves (to God). 42 So why did they not humbly plead when Our punishment came to them? But their hearts were hardened and the devil made all their deeds appear good to them! 43 But when they forgot the warning they had received, We opened to them the gates of all (good) things, until, in the midst of their enjoyment of Our gifts, on a sudden, We called them to account, when lo! they were plunged in despair! 44 So of the people who did wrong the last remnant was cut off. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds! 45 Say: 'What would you see if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and set a seal upon your hearts, who is a god, other than Allah, to bring it back to you' Look how We make plain to them Our verses, and yet they turn away. 46 Say: 'If the chastisement of Allah were to overtake you unawares or openly shall any except the wrong-doing people be destroyed?' 47 We do not send apostles but to give good tidings and to warn. Then those who believe or reform will have neither fear nor regret. 48 But those who reject our signs,- them shall punishment touch, for that they ceased not from transgressing. 49 Say, "I do not say to you that I possess the treasures of God, nor do I know the unseen, nor do I say to you that I am an angel. I follow only that which is revealed to me." Say, "Are the blind and the seeing alike? Can you not then think?" 50