۞ Permission to fight is granted to those who are attacked, because they have been wronged, God indeed has the power to help them, 39 those who have been unjustly driven from their homes, just because they said: 'Our Lord is Allah' Had Allah not repelled some people by the means of others, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and mosques in which the Name of Allah is remembered would have been destroyed. But whoever helps Allah shall be helped by Him. Allah is the Strong, the Almighty, 40 [And they are] those who, if We give them authority in the land, establish prayer and give zakah and enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong. And to Allah belongs the outcome of [all] matters. 41 If they belie you, so too before them, the nation of Noah belied, and Aad and Thamood 42 as did the people of Abraham, and the people of Lot, 43 (And) the dwellers in Midian. And Moses was denied; but I indulged the disbelievers a long while, then I seized them, and how (terrible) was My abhorrence! 44 And how many a city did We destroy while it was committing wrong - so it is [now] fallen into ruin - and [how many] an abandoned well and [how many] a lofty palace. 45 Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts (and minds) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts. 46 And [so, O Muhammad,] they challenge thee to hasten the coming upon them of [God's] chastisement: but God never fails to fulfill His promise - and behold, in thy Sustainer's sight a day is like a thousand years of your reckoning. 47 To how many a town We gave respite while it was given to wrongdoing. Then I seized it. To Me all things shall return. 48