۞ Permission is given to those who fight because they were wronged. Allah has power to grant them victory: 39 they are those who have been driven out of their homes unjustly, only because they said, "Our Lord is God." If God did not repel the aggression of some people by means of others, cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of God is much invoked, would surely be destroyed. God will surely help him who helps His cause -- God is indeed powerful and mighty. 40 Those who, should We establish them in the land, will keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and enjoin good and forbid evil; and Allah's is the end of affairs. 41 If they accuse you of falsehood, (remember that) the people of Noah, 'Ad and Thamud had accused (their apostles) before, 42 So did the people of Abraham and the people of Lot, 43 and so did the dwellers of Midian, and Moses too was branded a liar. Initially I granted respite to the unbelievers for a while and then seized them. How dreadful was My punishment! 44 How many towns have We destroyed because their people were steeped in iniquity: so they lie fallen down upon their turrets! How many wells lie deserted; and how many towering palaces lie in ruins! 45 Have they not travelled in the land that they could have the heart to understand, and ears to hear? It is not the eyes alone that do not see, oblivious are the hearts within their breasts. 46 And they demand of thee to hasten the chastisement! God will not fail His promise; and surely a day with thy Lord is as a thousand years of your counting. 47 And how many a city did I give reins to, while it wronged itself, then took hold of it! and unto Me is the return. 48