How many were the populations We utterly destroyed because of their iniquities, setting up in their places other peoples? 11 Yet, when they felt Our Punishment (coming), behold, they (tried to) flee from it. 12 Flee not, and return unto that wherein ye luxuriated and your habitations, haply ye will be questioned. 13 They said, "O woe to us! Indeed, we were wrongdoers." 14 So they kept saying this until We made them cut off, extinguished. 15 We have not created the heavens and the earth, and all that lies between them, out of fun. 16 Had We wished to take to Us an amusement We would have taken it to Us from Ours had We done so. 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 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 (i.e. the angels) glorify His Praises night and day, (and) they never slacken (to do so). 20 Have they taken gods from the earth who raise the deed? 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 will not be questioned as to that which He doeth, but they will be questioned. 23 Have they taken other deities besides Him? Say to them, "Bring your proofs. This is the reminder of those who are with me and the reminder of those who were before me." But most of them do not know the truth, and so they turn away from it. 24 To all the Messengers that were sent before you We revealed that I am the only God to be worshipped. 25 And they say; the Compassionate hath taken a son. Hallowed be He! aye! they are bondmen honoured. 26 They did not precede Him in their speech, and acted on His command. 27 He knows what is before them, and what is behind them, and they offer no intercession except for those who are acceptable, and they stand in awe and reverence of His (Glory). 28 ۞ And one of them who should say: Lo! I am a god beside Him, that one We should repay with hell. Thus We Repay wrong-doers. 29