And how many a city which was unjust have We shattered and produced after it another people. 11 And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it 12 (They were told): "Flee not, but return to your comforts and to your dwellings. You are likely to be questioned." 13 They said: O woe to us! surely we were unjust. 14 And that cry of theirs ceased not, till We made them as a field that is mown, as ashes silent and quenched. 15 We created not the heaven and the earth and all that is between them in play. 16 Had We wished to make a diversion, We would have made it from before Ourselves: by no means would We do (it). 17 Nay, but [by the very act of creation] We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your [attempts at] defining [God] 18 To Him belongs all those who are in the heavens and the earth. Those who are closer to Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor do they get tired of worshipping. 19 And they hallow Him night and day, and they flag not. 20 Or have they taken gods from the earth who raise (the dead). 21 If there were therein gods beside Allah, then verily both (the heavens and the earth) had been disordered. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe (unto Him). 22 He shall not be questioned as to what He does, but they shall he questioned. 23 Or, have they taken gods besides Him? Say: Bring your proof; this is the reminder of those with me and the reminder of those before me. Nay! most of them do not know the truth, so they turn aside. 24 And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me." 25 And they say; the Compassionate hath taken a son. Hallowed be He! aye! they are bondmen honoured. 26 They cannot precede Him in word, and they act by His command. 27 He knows what is [presently] before them and what will be after them, and they cannot intercede except on behalf of one whom He approves. And they, from fear of Him, are apprehensive. 28 ۞ And if any of them were to say: "Behold, I am deity beside Him" - that one We should requite with hell: thus do We requite all [such] evildoers. 29