How many a community that dealt unjustly have We shattered, and raised up after them another folk! 11 And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it 12 "Do not flee; go back to your halls of pleasure and your habitations, so that you may be interrogated." 13 They said: 'Alas for us we were harmdoers' 14 And that declaration of theirs did not cease until We made them [as] a harvest [mowed down], extinguished [like a fire]. 15 We created not the heavens and the earth and all that is between them for a (mere) play. 16 Had We wished to find a pastime, We would surely have found it in that which is with Us, if such had been Our will. 17 In fact We strike the truth against the false, which shatters it, and it disappears. Woe to you for what you attribute (to Him)! 18 And His is whosoever is in the heavens and the earth; and those nigh unto Him are not too stiff-necked for His worship nor are they weary. 19 They glorify (Him) by night and day; they are never languid. 20 Have they appointed from the earth, Gods that create something? 21 Had there been other deities in the heavens and the earth besides God, both the heavens and the earth would have been destroyed. God, the Lord of the Throne, is too Glorious to be as they think He is. 22 He cannot be questioned for His acts, but they will be questioned (for theirs). 23 Or have they taken gods besides Him? Say, [O Muhammad], "Produce your proof. This [Qur'an] is the message for those with me and the message of those before me." But most of them do not know the truth, so they are turning away. 24 and [this despite the fact that even] before thy time We never sent any apostle without having revealed to him that there is no deity save Me, - [and that,] therefore, you shall worship Me [alone]! 25 And they say: "(Allah) Most Gracious has begotten offspring." Glory to Him! they are (but) servants raised to honour. 26 These servants do not speak before He speaks. They simply act according to His orders. 27 He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede without His permission. Indeed they themselves stand in awe of Him. 28 ۞ The recompense of those of them who say that they are the Lord instead of God will be hell; thus, do We recompense the unjust ones. 29