For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 And when they tasted Our punishment, they immediately started fleeing from it. 12 Flee not, but return to the good things of this life which were given you, and to your homes in order that ye may be called to account. 13 They cried: "Woe to us! Certainly! We have been Zalimun (polytheists, wrong-doers and disbelievers in the Oneness of Allah, etc.)." 14 Such was what they continued to say until We mowed them down and made them completely extinct. 15 We did not create the heavens and the earth just for fun. 16 had We desired to take to Us a diversion We would have taken it to Us from Ourselves, had We done aught. 17 Nay, but [by the very act of creation] We hurl the truth against falsehood, and it crushes the latter: and lo! it withers away. But woe unto you for all your [attempts at] defining [God] 18 To Him belongs all those who are in the heavens and the earth. Those who are closer to Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor do they get tired of worshipping. 19 They exalt [Him] night and day [and] do not slacken. 20 Or have they taken gods from the earth who raise (the dead). 21 If there were therein gods beside Allah, then verily both (the heavens and the earth) had been disordered. Glorified be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from all that they ascribe (unto Him). 22 He shall be questioned not as to that which He doth, while they shall be questioned. 23 Have they taken gods besides God? Say: "Then bring your proof. Here is the Book of those who are with me, and the Book of those who have gone before me." But most men do not know the truth and turn away. 24 And We did not send before you any apostle but We revealed to him that there is no god but Me, therefore serve Me. 25 They said, "The Beneficent God has given birth to a son. He is too Exalted to give birth to a son." (Those whom they think are God's sons) are only His honorable servants. 26 These servants do not speak before He speaks. They simply act according to His orders. 27 He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already] graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him. 28 ۞ If any one of them said: "I am God besides Him," We should award him Hell; for this is how We requite the evil-doers. 29