How many harmdoing villages have We shattered and replaced them with another nation. 11 And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it 12 "Do not flee; go back to your halls of pleasure and your habitations, so that you may be interrogated." 13 "Woe, alas," they said, "we were really sinful." 14 And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is mown, as ashes silent and quenched. 15 Not for (idle) sport did We create the heavens and the earth and all that is between! 16 Had We wanted to play games, We could have certainly done so with things at hand. 17 Nay, but [by the very act of creation] We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your [attempts at] defining [God] 18 To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and on earth. And those who are near Him (i.e. the angels) are not too proud to worship Him, nor are they weary (of His worship). 19 They say His Purity night and day, and do not slacken. 20 Or have they taken gods from the earth who raise (the dead). 21 had there been in heaven or on earth any deities other than God, both [those realms would surely have fallen into ruin! But limitless in His glory is God, enthroned in His awesome almightiness far] above anything that men may devise by way of definition! 22 None shall question Him about what He does, but they shall be questioned. 23 Have they taken gods, other than Him? Say: 'Bring us your proof! Here is the Remembrance of he who is with me and the Remembrance of those before me' But no, most of them do not know the truth, therefore they turn away. 24 And We did not send any Noble Messenger before you, but We divinely revealed to him that, “There is no God except I (Allah), therefore worship Me alone.” 25 And [yet,] some say: "The Most Gracious has taken unto Himself a son"! Limitless is He in His glory! Nay, [those whom they regard as God's "offspring" are but His] honoured servants: 26 They do not outstrip Him in speech and only act as He commands. 27 He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they cannot intercede except on behalf of one whom He approves. And they, from fear of Him, are apprehensive. 28 ۞ If any one of them says: 'I am a god other than Him' We will recompense him with Gehenna (Hell). As such We recompense the harmdoers. 29