And assuredly We have variously propounded in this Qur'an for mankind every kind of similitude; and man is of all things the most disputing. 54 And nothing has prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them and from asking forgiveness of their Lord except that there [must] befall them the [accustomed] precedent of the former peoples or that the punishment should come [directly] before them. 55 And We send not apostles save as bringers of glad tidings and warners; and those who disbelieve dispute with falsehood that they rebut thereby the truth; and they take My signs and that whereof they are warned as a mockery. 56 And who is more unjust than one who is reminded of the verses of his Lord but turns away from them and forgets what his hands have put forth? Indeed, We have placed over their hearts coverings, lest they understand it, and in their ears deafness. And if you invite them to guidance - they will never be guided, then - ever. 57 But thy Lord is the All-forgiving, full of mercy. If He should take them to task for that they have earned, He would hasten for them the chastisement; but they have a tryst, from which they will find no escape. 58 And those cities, We destroyed them when they did evil, and appointed for their destruction a tryst. 59