And assuredly We sent apostles before thee and We made for them wives and progeny, and it is not for an apostle to produce a verse except by the command of Allah; for every time there is a Book. 38 Allah blots out, and He establishes what He will. With Him is the Essence of the Book. 39 Whether We show them (the unbelievers) to you facing the punishment with which We had threatened them, or make you die first (before its fulfillment), your duty is only to preach. It is up to Us to call them to account (for their deeds). 40 Have they not considered that We have taken over the land and reduced its borders? It is God who issues the irreversible decree and His reckoning is swift. 41 Now those who lived before these [sinners] did, too, devise many a blasphemy - but the most subtle devising is that of God, who knows what each human being deserves: and the deniers of the truth will [in time] come to know to whom the future belongs. 42 Those who deny the truth say, "You are not God's messenger." Say, "Sufficient is God as my witness between me and you, and those who have knowledge of the Book." 43