Allah doth know what every female (womb) doth bear, by how much the wombs fall short (of their time or number) or do exceed. Every single thing is before His sight, in (due) proportion. 8 He is the knower of the unseen and the visible, the Great, the Most-Exalted. 9 Equal unto him is he among you who hideth the word and he who publisheth it, and he who hideth himself in the night and he who goeth about freely in the day. 10 For him are angels in succession, before him and behind him; they guard him with Allah's command. Verily Allah altereth not that which is with a people until they alter that which is with themselves. And when Allah intendeth evil unto a people there is no turning it back; nor is for them, beside Him, any patron. 11 It is He who shows you the lightning, for fear and hope, and produces the heavy clouds; 12 and the thunder extols His limitless glory and praises Him, and [so do] the angels, in awe of Him; and He [it is who] lets loose the thunderbolts and strikes with them whom He wills. And yet, they stubbornly argue about God, notwithstanding [all evidence] that He alone has the power to contrive whatever His unfathomable wisdom wills! 13 To Him alone should all prayer be addressed, for those to whom they do address their prayers beside Him are altogether powerless to respond to them. The example of praying to any other than Allah is that of a man who stretches out his hands to water, asking it to reach his mouth, although water has no power to reach his mouth. The prayers of the unbelievers are a sheer waste. 14 All who dwell in the heavens and earth shall prostrate themselves before Allah, either willingly or unwillingly; as do their shadows in the mornings and evenings. ۩ 15 (Muhammad), ask them, "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say, "It is God." Ask them, "Why then have you taken guardians other than God when such guardians can neither benefit nor harm themselves?" Ask them, "Are the seeing and the blind equal? Is light equal to darkness?" Do they consider that their idols have created anything like that of God, thus, both creations appear to them to be alike?" Say, "God alone is the Creator of all things and He is the One, the All-Dominant." 16 [Whenever] He sends down water from the sky, and [once dry] river-beds are running high according to their measure, the stream carries scum on its surface; and likewise, from that [metal] which they smelt in the fire in order to make ornaments or utensils, [there rises] scum. In this way does God set forth the parable of truth and falsehood: for, as far as the scum is concerned, it passes away as [does all] dross; but that which is of benefit to man abides on earth. In this way does God set forth the parables 17 There will be the best of rewards for those who respond to their Lord: while those who do not respond to Him -- if they possessed all that is on earth and twice as much, they would surely offer it as ransom [on the Day of Judgement]; -- will have the worst reckoning and their goal is Hell: and how evil a resting-place! 18