(Then Allah will also ask them): 'O assembly of jinn and men! Did there not come to you Messengers from among yourselves, relating to you My signs, and warning you of the encounter of this your Day (of Judgement)?' They will say: 'Yes, we bear witness against ourselves.' They have been deluded by the life of this world, and they will bear witness against themselves that they had disbelieved. 130 And this (so that it may be clear) that your Lord does not destroy towns and cities arbitrarily while the citizens remain unaware. 131 For all there will be degrees (or ranks) according to what they did. And your Lord is not unaware of what they do. 132 And thine Lord is Self-Sufficient, the Owner of mercy. If He will, He can take you away, and make those succeed you, after you, whomsoever He will, even as He raised you from the seed of another people. 133 Surely what you are threatened with must come to pass and you cannot escape (it). 134 Say (O Muhammad!): 'O people! Work in your place; and I too am at work. Soon you will know in whose favour the ultimate decision will be. Surely the wrong-doers will not prosper.' 135 They assign to Allah a portion out of the produce and cattle that He has created, saying out of their fancy: 'This is for Allah' - so they deem -'and this is for the associates (of Allah) whom we have contrived.' Then, the portion assigned to the beings whom they have set up as associates (of Allah) does not reach Allah, but the portion assigned to Allah reaches the beings they set up as associates (of Allah)! Indeed evil is what they decide! 136 And, likewise, the beings supposed to have a share in Allah's divinity have made the slaying of their offspring seem lawful to many of those who associate others with Allah in His divinity so that they may ruin them and confound them regarding their faith. If Allah had so willed, they would not have done that. Leave them alone to persist in their fabrication. 137 They say, 'These are cattle and tillage sacrosanct; none shall eat them, but whom we will'-- so they assert -- 'and cattle whose backs have been forbidden, and cattle over which they mention not the Name of God.' All that they say, forging against God; He will assuredly recompense them for what they were forging. 138 And they say: whatsoever is in the bellies of such cattle is for our males alone and is forbidden unto our wives, and if it be born dead, then they all are partakers thereof. Anon He shall requite them for their attribution; verily He is Wise, Knowing. 139 Losers are they who slay their children in folly, without knowledge, and have forbidden what God has provided them, forging against God; they have gone astray, and are not right-guided. 140