And this is a Book We have sent down, blest, follow it then and fear God, haply ye may be shewn mercy. 155 Lest you (pagan Arabs) should say: "The Book was only sent down to two sects before us (the Jews and the Christians), and for our part, we were in fact unaware of what they studied." 156 Or lest ye should say: if only the Book had been sent down to us, we should surely have been better guided than they. So now surely there hath come unto you an evidence from Your Lord and a guidance and a mercy. Who then doth greater wrong than he who belieth the signs of Allah and shunneth them? Anon We will requite those who shun Our signs with an evil torment in as much as they were wont to shun them. 157 Do they then wait for anything other than that the angels should come to them, or that your Lord should come, or that some of the Signs of your Lord should come (i.e. portents of the Hour e.g., arising of the sun from the west)! The day that some of the Signs of your Lord do come, no good will it do to a person to believe then, if he believed not before, nor earned good (by performing deeds of righteousness) through his Faith. Say: "Wait you! we (too) are waiting." 158 As for those who have created schisms in their order, and formed different sects, you have no concern with them. Their affair is with God. He will tell them the truth of what they were doing. 159 Whoso bringeth a good deed will receive tenfold the like thereof, while whoso bringeth an ill-deed will be awarded but the like thereof; and they will not be wronged. 160 Say, “Indeed my Lord has guided me to the Straight Path; the right religion, (of) the community of Ibrahim who was free from all falsehood; and was not a polytheist.” 161 Say: 'Surely my Prayer, all my acts of worship, and my living and my dying are for Allah alone, the Lord of the whole universe. 162 No associate has He. Even so I have been commanded, and I am the first of those that surrender.' 163 Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)? Every soul draws the meed of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed." 164 And He it is Who hath made you successors in the earth, and hath raised some of you over others in degrees, that he might prove you by that which He hath vouchsafed unto you. Verily thy Lord is swift in chastising, and verily He is Forgiving, Merciful. 165