Say thou unto My bondmen that they should say that which is best, Verily the Satan would stir up strife between them; verily the Satan is unto men ever an enemy manifest. 53 Your Lord knows you best; He will have mercy on you if He pleases, or He will chastise you if He pleases; and We have not sent you as being in charge of them. 54 Your Lord knows very well all who are in the heavens and the earth. We have preferred some Prophets above others, and to David We gave the Psalms. 55 (Muhammad), tell them, "Seek help from those whom you consider equal to God. They are not able to remove or change your hardships". 56 The devoted bondmen whom these disbelievers worship, themselves seek the means of proximity from their Lord, that who among them is the closest (to his Lord), and hope for His mercy and fear His punishment; indeed the punishment of your Lord is to be feared. 57 There is not a town but We shall destroy it or upon which We shall inflict severe chastisement before the Day of Resurrection. This is written down in the Eternal Book (of Allah). 58 And nothing has prevented Us from sending signs except that the former peoples denied them. And We gave Thamud the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged her. And We send not the signs except as a warning. 59 And recall when We said to you, (O Muhammad), that your Lord encompasses these people; and that We have made that vision that We have shown you, and the tree accursed in the Qur'an, but as a trial for people. We go about warning them, but each warning leads them to greater transgression. 60