۞ We sent Our guidance to them so that perhaps they might take heed. 51 Those unto whom We gave the Scripture before it, they believe in it, 52 And when it is read out to them, say: "We believe in it. It's the truth from our Lord. We had committed ourselves before it came." 53 These shall be vouchsafed their hire twice over, because they have persevered, and they repel evil with good, and expend of that wherewith We have provided them. 54 And when they hear ill speech, they turn away from it and say, "For us are our deeds, and for you are your deeds. Peace will be upon you; we seek not the ignorant." 55 Indeed, [O Muhammad], you do not guide whom you like, but Allah guides whom He wills. And He is most knowing of the [rightly] guided. 56 And they say: If we follow the guidance with you, we shall be carried off from our country. What! have We not settled them in a safe, sacred territory to which fruits of every kind shall be drawn?-- a sustenance from Us; but most of them do not know. 57 And how many a town did We destroy whose inhabitants exulted on account of their affluence. These are their dwellings in which very few dwelt after them. Eventually it is We Who inherited them. 58 Yet thy Lord never destroyed the cities until He sent in their mother-city a Messenger, to recite Our signs unto them; and We never destroyed the cities, save that their inhabitants were evildoers. 59 And whatever things you have been given are only a provision of this world's life and its adornment, and whatever is with Allah is better and more lasting; do you not then understand? 60