O mankind! Worship your Lord (Allah), Who created you and those who were before you so that you may become Al-Muttaqun (the pious - see V. 2:2). 21 Who has made the earth a bed for you and the sky a dome, and has sent down water from the sky to bring forth fruits for your provision. Do not knowingly set up rivals to Allah. 22 If you are in doubt of what We have sent down to Our worshiper (Prophet Muhammad), produce a chapter comparable to it. Call upon your helpers, other than Allah, to assist you, if you are true. 23 And if you do not -- and you will not -- then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for unbelievers. 24 Announce to those who believe and have done good deeds, glad tidings of gardens under which rivers flow, and where, when they eat the fruits that grow, they will say: "Indeed they are the same as we were given before," so like in semblance the food would be. And they shall have fair spouses there, and live there abidingly. 25 ۞ Allah is not shy to strike a parable whatsoever a gnat or larger. Those who believe know that it is the truth from their Lord. As for those who disbelieve they ask: 'What could Allah mean by this parable? By it, Allah misleads many and guides many.' But He misleads none except the evildoers, 26 Who break the covenant of Allah after contracting it and sever that which Allah has ordered to be joined and cause corruption on earth. It is those who are the losers. 27 How dare you deny the existence of God Who gave you life when you initially had no life. He will cause you to die and bring you to life again. Then you will return to His Presence. 28 It is He Who created for you all that is in the earth; then He inclined towards the heaven, therefore fashioning it as proper seven heavens; and He knows everything. 29