For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 When they felt Our punishment coming upon them, they began to flee from it. 12 Flee not, but return to the good things of this life which were given you, and to your homes in order that ye may be called to account. 13 They cried: Alas for us! we were wrong-doers. 14 and this they kept repeating until We caused them to become like a field mowed down, and reduced to ashes. 15 We have not created the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them, out of fun. 16 [for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all! 17 Aye! We hurl truth against falsehood, so that it braineth it, and lo! it vanisheth; and to you be the woe for that which ye utter! 18 To Him belong all (creatures) in the heavens and on earth: Even those who are in His (very) Presence are not too proud to serve Him, nor are they (ever) weary (of His service): 19 Nor cease to endeavour praising Him night and day. 20 Or have they taken gods from the earth who can raise the dead? 21 If other than Allah, there were gods* in the heavens and the earth, they would be destroyed; therefore Purity is to Allah, Owner of the Throne, from the matters that they fabricate. (* Which is not possible.) 22 He shall not be questioned as to what He does, but they shall he questioned. 23 and yet, they choose to worship [imaginary] deities instead of Him! Say [O Prophet]: "Produce an evidence for what you are claiming: this is a reminder [unceasingly voiced] by those who are with me, just as it was a reminder [voiced] by those who came before me." But nay, most of them do not know the truth, and so they stubbornly turn away [from it] 24 Never did We send any Messenger before you to whom We did not reveal: "There is no god but Me. So serve Me alone." 25 And they say; the Compassionate hath taken a son. Hallowed be He! aye! they are bondmen honoured. 26 They speak not before He speaks, and they act (in all things) by His Command. 27 He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already] graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him. 28 ۞ And if any of them should say: "Verily, I am an ilah (a god) besides Him (Allah)," such a one We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.). 29