Remember also the time when your Lord declared, 'If you are grateful, I will surely bestow more favours on you; but if you are ungrateful, then know that My punishment is severe indeed.'" 7 And Moses said, 'If you are thankless, you and whoso is on earth, all together, yet assuredly God is All-sufficient, All-laudable.' 8 Have the accounts of your predecessors not reached you: the people of Noah, the Ad, the Thamud, and those who came after them - they whose number is not known to any except Allah? Their Messengers came to them with Clear Signs, but they thrust their hands in their mouths, and said: "We do surely reject the Message you have brought, and we are in disquieting doubt about what you are summoning us to." 9 ۞ Their messengers said: "Is there a doubt about Allah, The Creator of the heavens and the earth? It is He Who invites you, in order that He may forgive you your sins and give you respite for a term appointed!" They said: "Ah! ye are no more than human, like ourselves! Ye wish to turn us away from the (gods) our fathers used to worship: then bring us some clear authority." 10 The Messengers replied, "We are certainly mere mortals like you, but God bestows His favors on whichever of His servants He wants. We can not bring you authority without the permission of God. The faithful should trust in God alone. 11 And wherefore should we not rely on Allah when He hath surely guided us our ways! And surely we shall bear patiently that with which ye afflict us and in Allah then let the trustful put their trust. 12