We sent messengers before you [Prophet] to many communities and afflicted their people with suffering and hardship, so that they might humble themselves. 42 When the affliction decreed by Us befell them, they did not humble themselves, but rather their hearts hardened, for Satan had made all their doings seem fair to them. 43 So, when they forgot what they had been reminded of, We opened the gates of all things so that while they rejoiced in what they had been granted We seized them suddenly and they were plunged into utter despair. 44 Then the people who committed wrong were cut off completely. And all praise is unto Allah, the Lord of the worlds. 45 Say thou: look ye were Allah to take away your hearing and your sight and seal up your hearts, what god, other than Allah, shall bring them unto you? Behold! how variously We propound the signs, yet they turn aside. 46 Ask them, "Tell me, if the punishment of God came upon you suddenly or predictably, would any but the wrongdoers be destroyed?" 47 We send the messengers only to give good news and to warn: so those who believe and mend (their lives),- upon them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. 48 But as for those who deny Our revelations, torment will afflict them for that they used to disobey. 49 (O Muhammad!) Say: 'I do not say to you I have the treasures of Allah. Nor do I have knowledge of what is beyond the reach of human perception. Nor do I say to you: I am an angel. I only follow what is revealed to me.' Then ask them: 'Are the blind and the seeing alike?' Do you not then reflect? 50