And We did indeed send Messengers to other nations before you and then We seized those nations with misfortune and hardship so that they might humble themselves (before Us). 42 If only they humbled themselves when Our scourge overtook them! But their hearts were hardened, and satan decorated to them what they were doing. 43 But when they forgot the warning they had received, We opened to them the gates of all (good) things, until, in the midst of their enjoyment of Our gifts, on a sudden, We called them to account, when lo! they were plunged in despair! 44 The wrongdoers were thus annihilated. All praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds. 45 Say: 'What would you see if Allah took away your hearing and your sight, and set a seal upon your hearts, who is a god, other than Allah, to bring it back to you' Look how We make plain to them Our verses, and yet they turn away. 46 Say: 'What do you see yourselves then, if the punishment of Allah overtook you suddenly or openly, would any perish but the harmdoing nation' 47 We did not send the Messengers for any other reason than to bring (people) the glad news (of God's mercy) and to warn (them of the torment brought on by disobedience to God). Whoever accepts the faith and lives a righteous life will have nothing to fear, nor will he be grieved. 48 And (as for) those who reject Our communications, chastisement shall afflict them because they transgressed. 49 Say [O Prophet]: "I do not say unto you, 'God's treasures are with me,'; nor [do I say,] 'I know the things that are beyond the reach of human perception'; nor do I say unto you, 'Behold, I am an angel': I but follow what is revealed to me." Say: "Can the blind and the seeing be deemed equal? Will you not, then, take thought?" 50