Then the unbelievers told their Messengers: "You will have to return to the fold of our faith or else we shall banish you from our land." Thereupon their Lord revealed to them: "We will most certainly destroy these wrong-doers, 13 and settle you on the land to succeed them. That is [in store] for anyone who is in awe of meeting Me, and who heeds My warnings." 14 And they asked for judgment and every insolent opposer was disappointed: 15 beyond him Gehenna, and he is given to drink of oozing pus, 16 Which he sippeth but can hardly swallow, and death cometh unto him from every side while yet he cannot die, and before him is a harsh doom. 17 [This, then, is] the parable of those who are bent on denying their Sustainer: all their works are as ashes which the wind blows about fiercely on a stormy day: [in the life to come,] they cannot achieve any benefit whatever from all [the good] that they may have wrought: for this [denial of God] is indeed the farthest one can go astray. 18 ART THOU NOT aware that God has created the heavens and the earth in accordance with [an inner] truth? He can, if He so wills, do away with you and bring forth a new mankind [in your stead]: 19 That is not at all difficult for Allah. 20 (On the Day of Judgment) everyone will appear before God and those who have been suppressed will say to their oppressors, "We were your followers, can you do anything to rescue us from the torment of God?" They will reply, "Had God guided us, we would also have guided you. It makes no difference whether we cry for help or exercise patience; there is no escape for us." 21