Allah knows what every female bears; and what the wombs fall short of (in gestation), and what they may add. With Him everything is in a fixed measure. 8 He knows both what is hidden and what is manifest. He is the Supreme One, the Most High. 9 It is all alike [to Him] whether any of you conceals his thought or brings it into the open, and whether he seeks to hide [his evil deeds] under the cover of night or walks [boldly] in the light of day, 10 Everyone is guarded and protected on all sides by the order of God. God does not change the condition of a nation unless it changes what is in its heart. When God wants to punish a people, there is no way to escape from it and no one besides God will protect them from it. 11 He it is Who causes you to see lightning that inspires you with both fear and hope, and He it is Who whips up heavy clouds. 12 And Ar-Ra'd (thunder) glorifies and praises Him, and so do the angels because of His Awe, He sends the thunderbolts, and therewith He strikes whom He wills, yet they (disbelievers) dispute about Allah. And He is Mighty in strength and Severe in punishment. 13 Only the prayer to Him is truthful; and whomever they pray to besides Him, do not hear them at all, but like one who has his hands outstretched towards water that it may come into his mouth, and it will never come; and every prayer of the disbelievers remains wandering. 14 All in the heavens and the earth prostrate themselves before God, either of their own free will or by force, just as do their shadows in the mornings and evenings. ۩ 15 Say, "Who is Lord of the heavens and earth?" Say, "Allah." Say, "Have you then taken besides Him allies not possessing [even] for themselves any benefit or any harm?" Say, "Is the blind equivalent to the seeing? Or is darkness equivalent to light? Or have they attributed to Allah partners who created like His creation so that the creation [of each] seemed similar to them?" Say, "Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the One, the Prevailing." 16 He sends down water from the skies, which flows in channels according to their capacity, with the scum borne on the surface of the torrent, as rises the scum when metals are heated on the fire for making ornaments and household utensils. This is how God determines truth and falsehood. The scum disappears like the foam on the bank, and that which is useful to man remains on the earth. That is how God sets forth precepts of wisdom. 17 For those who obeyed the command of Allah is goodness and if those who did not obey Him owned all that is in the earth and in addition a similar one like it, they would give it to redeem their souls; it is they who will have a wretched account, and their destination is hell; and what a wretched resting place! 18