And We have already sent [messengers] to nations before you, [O Muhammad]; then We seized them with poverty and hardship that perhaps they might humble themselves [to Us]. 42 So why did they not humbly plead when Our punishment came to them? But their hearts were hardened and the devil made all their deeds appear good to them! 43 So, when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened the gates of all things so that while they rejoiced in what they had been granted We seized them suddenly and they were plunged into utter despair. 44 The wrongdoers were thus annihilated. All praise be to God, the Lord of the Worlds. 45 Say: "Imagine if God takes away your hearing and sight, and sets a seal on your hearts, what deity other than God will restore them to you?" See how We inflect Our signs: Even then they turn aside. 46 Tell them, "Have you considered that if God's torment was to befall you suddenly or in public, would anyone else be destroyed except the unjust?" 47 And We send not the messengers except as bringers of good tidings and warners. So whoever believes and reforms - there will be no fear concerning them, nor will they grieve. 48 But those who belie Our verses, punishment shall touch them for their misdeeds. 49 Say (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), “I do not say to you that I possess the treasures of Allah, nor do I say that I gain knowledge of the hidden on my own, nor do I say to you that I am an angel; I only follow what is divinely revealed to me”; say, “Will the blind and the sighted ever be equal? So do you not think?” 50