God knows what every female bears, and the wombs' shrinking and swelling; everything with Him has its measure -- 8 Knower of the hidden and the manifest! the Great! the Exalted. 9 Equal unto him is he among you who hideth the word and he who publisheth it, and he who hideth himself in the night and he who goeth about freely in the day. 10 For his sake there are angels following one another, before him and behind him, who guard him by Allah's commandment; surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition; and when Allah intends evil to a people, there is no averting it, and besides Him they have no protector. 11 He it is Who showeth you the lightning, a fear and a hope, and raiseth the heavy clouds. 12 the thunder proclaims His praise, and the angels, in awe of Him. He looses the thunderbolts, and smites with them whomsoever He will; yet they dispute about God, who is mighty in power. 13 Unto Him is the real prayer. Those unto whom they pray beside Allah respond to them not at all, save as (is the response to) one who stretcheth forth his hands toward water (asking) that it may come unto his mouth, and it will never reach it. The prayer of disbelievers goeth (far) astray. 14 And unto Allah (Alone) falls in prostration whoever is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and so do their shadows in the mornings and in the afternoons. ۩ 15 (Muhammad), ask them, "Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?" Say, "It is God." Ask them, "Why then have you taken guardians other than God when such guardians can neither benefit nor harm themselves?" Ask them, "Are the seeing and the blind equal? Is light equal to darkness?" Do they consider that their idols have created anything like that of God, thus, both creations appear to them to be alike?" Say, "God alone is the Creator of all things and He is the One, the All-Dominant." 16 He sends down water from the skies, which flows in channels according to their capacity, with the scum borne on the surface of the torrent, as rises the scum when metals are heated on the fire for making ornaments and household utensils. This is how God determines truth and falsehood. The scum disappears like the foam on the bank, and that which is useful to man remains on the earth. That is how God sets forth precepts of wisdom. 17 For those who answer their Lord, the reward most fair; and those who answer Him not -- if they possessed all that is in the earth and the like of it with it, they would offer it for their ransom. Those theirs shall be the evil reckoning, and their refuge shall be Gehenna -- an evil cradling! 18