Those who associate [others with God] say, "If God had so willed we would not have worshipped anything besides Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything without His sanction." So did those who went before them. The duty of the messengers is only to convey the message clearly. 35 We raised a Messenger in every community (to tell them): "Serve Allah and shun the Evil One." Thereafter Allah guided some of them while others were overtaken by error. Go about the earth, then, and observe what was the end of those who rejected the Messengers, calling them liars. 36 Though thou art ever so eager to guide them, God guides not those whom He leads astray; they have no helpers. 37 And they swear by Allah their most binding oaths (that) Allah will not raise up him who dieth. Nay, but it is a promise (binding) upon Him in truth, but most of mankind know not, 38 this is so that He may make clear to them what they have differed about and so that those who are bent on denying the truth may realize that they were lying. 39 (As for the possibility of resurrection, bear in mind that) whenever We do will something, We have to do no more than say: "Be", and it is. 40