And man prayeth for evil the prayer he should make for good, and man is ever hasty. 11 We have appointed the night and the day as two signs; then We have blotted out the sign of the night, and made the sign of the day to see, and that you may seek bounty from your Lord, and that you may know the number of the years, and the reckoning; and everything We have distinguished very distinctly. 12 And every man -- We have fastened to him his bird of omen upon his neck; and We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he shall find spread wide open. 13 [and he will be told:] "Read this thy record! Sufficient is thine own self today to make out thine account!" 14 Who receiveth guidance, receiveth it for his own benefit: who goeth astray doth so to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would We visit with Our Wrath until We had sent an messenger (to give warning). 15 But when [this has been done, and] it is Our will to destroy a community, We convey Our last warning to those of its people who have lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures; and [if] they [continue to] act sinfully, the sentence [of doom] passed on the community takes effect, and We break it to smithereens. 16 How many generations have We destroyed since Noah! And Allah sufficeth as Knower and Beholder of the sins of His slaves. 17 Whoever desires this fleeting one, We may give him quickly – whatever We will, to whomever We will; and then assign hell for him; for him to enter it condemned, pushed around. 18 And whoso desireth the Hereafter and striveth for it with the effort necessary, being a believer; for such, their effort findeth favour (with their Lord). 19 All [of them] - these as well as those - do We freely endow with some of thy Sustainer's gifts, since thy Sustainer's giving is never confined [to one kind of man]. 20 Behold how We bestow [on earth] more bounty on some of them than on others: but [remember that] the life to come will be far higher in degree and far greater in merit and bounty. 21 DO NOT set up any other deity side by side with God, lest thou find thyself disgraced and forsaken: 22