No sooner than We bestow mercy on a people after hardship has hit them than they begin to scheme against Our signs. Tell them: 'Allah is swifter in scheming. Our angels are recording all your intriguing. 21 He it is Who enableth you to traverse through land and sea; so that ye even board ships;- they sail with them with a favourable wind, and they rejoice thereat; then comes a stormy wind and the waves come to them from all sides, and they think they are being overwhelmed: they cry unto Allah, sincerely offering (their) duty unto Him saying, "If thou dost deliver us from this, we shall truly show our gratitude!" 22 But when He rescues them, they commit excesses in the land unjustly again. Your rebellion, O people, shall recoil back on your own selves. The joys of the world (are only ephemeral): You have to come back to Us in the end. We shall then inform you what you were doing. 23 The example of the life of this world (which has enamoured you into becoming heedless to Our signs) is that of water that We sent down from the heaven which causes the vegetation of the earth, which sustains men and cattle, to grow luxuriantly. But when the earth took on its golden raiment and became well adorned and the owners believed that they had full control over their lands Our command came upon them by night or by day, and We convened it into a stubble, as though it had not blossomed yesterday. Thus do We expound the signs for a people who reflect. 24 God invites you to mansions of peace, and guides whosoever He will to the path that is straight 25 ۞ For the people of virtue, is goodness and more than that; and neither will the blackness nor disgrace come upon their faces; it is they who are the people of Paradise; they will abide in it forever. 26 And those who earn ill-deeds, (for them) requital of each ill-deed by the like thereof; and ignominy overtaketh them - They have no protector from Allah - as if their faces had been covered with a cloak of darkest night. Such are rightful owners of the Fire; they will abide therein. 27 One day shall We gather them all together. Then shall We say to those who joined gods (with Us): "To your place! ye and those ye joined as 'partners' We shall separate them, and their "Partners" shall say: "It was not us that ye worshipped! 28 Therefore Allah is sufficient as a witness between us and you that we were quite unaware of your serving (us). 29 There will every soul prove (the fruits of) the deeds it sent before: they will be brought back to Allah their rightful Lord, and their invented falsehoods will leave them in the lurch. 30