Allah takes away souls at the time of their death (the temporary death of sleep), and those who do not die during their sleep He withholds that upon which He has decreed death, but turns lose the other till a stated term. Surely, there are signs in this for a nation who contemplate. 42 Or have they taken others instead of Allah as intercessors? Say: “Will they intercede though they may have no power and though they may not even understand?” 43 Proclaim, “To Allah only* belongs all the intercession! For Him only is the kingship of the heavens and the earth; and then it is towards you have to return.” (*Allah does not intercede – He gives the permission to intercede with Him, to whomever He wills.) 44 And when Allah alone is mentioned, the hearts of those who do not believe in the hereafter shrink, and when those besides Him are mentioned, lo! they are joyful. 45 Say: O Allah! Creator of the heavens and the earth! Knower of the Invisible and the Visible! Thou wilt judge between Thy slaves concerning that wherein they used to differ. 46 Even if the wrong-doers had all that there is on earth, and as much more, (in vain) would they offer it for ransom from the pain of the Penalty on the Day of Judgment: but something will confront them from Allah, which they could never have counted upon! 47 And there will appear to them the evils they had earned, and they will be enveloped by what they used to ridicule. 48 Now when hurt toucheth a man he crieth unto Us, and afterward when We have granted him a boon from Us, he saith: Only by force of knowledge I obtained it. Nay, but it is a test. But most of them know not. 49 Those before them also said the same, so their earnings did not benefit them at all. 50 Therefore the evils of their earnings befell them; and those who are unjust among them – soon the evils of the earnings will befall them, and they cannot escape. 51 Do they not know that Allah eases the sustenance for whomever He wills, and restricts it? Indeed in this are signs for the People who Believe. 52