And tell My servants to say that which is best. Indeed, Satan induces [dissension] among them. Indeed Satan is ever, to mankind, a clear enemy. 53 Your Lord knows you best; He will have mercy on you if He pleases, or He will chastise you if He pleases; and We have not sent you as being in charge of them. 54 And it is your Lord that knoweth best all beings that are in the heavens and on earth: We did bestow on some prophets more (and other) gifts than on others: and We gave to David (the gift of) the Psalms. 55 Say: 'Call to those whom you assert, other than Him. They have neither the power to remove your affliction nor to transfer it' 56 Those [saintly beings] whom they invoke are themselves striving to obtain their Sustainer's favour - [even] those among them who are closest [to Him] - hoping for His grace and dreading His chastisement: for, verily, thy Sustainer's chastisement is something to beware of! 57 There is not a population but We shall destroy it before the Day of Judgment or punish it with a dreadful Penalty: that is written in the (eternal) Record. 58 Naught hindereth Us from sending portents save that the folk of old denied them. And We gave Thamud the she-camel - a clear portent save to warn. 59 And when We proclaimed to you, “Indeed all mankind is within the control of your Lord”; and We did not create the spectacle* which We showed you except to try mankind, and the Tree** which is cursed in the Qur’an; and We warn them – so nothing increases for them except extreme rebellion. (* The Ascent of the Holy Prophet to the heavens and beyond, which the disbelievers denied as just a dream. ** The Zakkum tree which will grow in hell and be the food for its inhabitants.) 60