Allah knows the Unseen in the heavens and earth. He knows that which is in the innermost of the chests. 38 It is He who has made you each other's successors on earth. Whoever disbelieves, does so against his own self. The disbelief of the unbelievers will only increase the anger of their Lord and will only cause them greater loss. 39 Say: "Have you ever [really] considered those beings and forces to whom you ascribe a share in God's divinity, [and] whom you invoke beside God? Show me what it is that they have created on earth - or do [you claim that] they have a share in [governing] the heavens?" Have We ever vouchsafed them a divine writ on which they could rely as evidence [in support of their views]? Nay, [the hope which] the evildoers hold out to one another [is] nothing but a delusion. 40 ۞ Lo! Allah graspeth the heavens and the earth that they deviate not, and if they were to deviate there is not one that could grasp them after Him. Lo! He is ever Clement, Forgiving. 41 They solemnly swore by Allah that if a warner came to them they would be more rightly guided than any other of the nations. Yet, when a warner came to them, it only increased their aversion, 42 and they behaved arrogantly in the land and plotted evil. But the plotting of evil only rebounds on those who plot. Are they but looking for the way the previous peoples [sinners] were dealt with? You will never find any change in the ways of God; nor will you ever find God's decree averted. 43 Have they not travelled in the land and seen the nature of the consequence for those who were before them, and they were mightier than these in power? Allah is not such that aught in the heavens or in the earth escapeth Him. Lo! He is the Wise, the Mighty. 44 Were God to punish people for their deeds immediately, not one creature would have survived on earth. However, He has given them a respite for an appointed time and when their term comes to an end, let it be known that God watches over His servants. 45