And those who associate others with Allah say, "If Allah had willed, we would not have worshipped anything other than Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything through other than Him." Thus did those do before them. So is there upon the messengers except [the duty of] clear notification? 35 And indeed, within every community have We raised up an apostle [entrusted with this message]: "Worship God, and shun the powers of evil!" And among those [past generations] were people whom God graced with His guidance, just as there was among them [many a one] who inevitably fell prey to grievous error: go, then, about the earth and behold what happened in the end to those who gave the lie to the truth! 36 If thou art anxious for their guidance, yet Allah guideth not such as He leaves to stray, and there is none to help them. 37 They swear emphatically in the name of God that God will not raise the dead. On the contrary, it is a promise incumbent on Him, though most men do not understand, 38 this is so that He may make clear to them what they have differed about and so that those who are bent on denying the truth may realize that they were lying. 39 (As for the possibility of resurrection, bear in mind that) whenever We do will something, We have to do no more than say: "Be", and it is. 40