We sent many apostles before you, and bestowed on them wives and children, but it was not for any apostle to come up with a miracle unless by the leave of God. For every age there is a law. 38 Allah blots out what He wills and confirms (what He wills). And with Him is the Mother of the Book (Al-Lauh Al-Mahfuz) 39 Whether We show them (the unbelievers) to you facing the punishment with which We had threatened them, or make you die first (before its fulfillment), your duty is only to preach. It is up to Us to call them to account (for their deeds). 40 Behold they not that We visit the land diminishing it by the borders; thereof Allah judgeth, and there is no reviser of His judgment, and He is swift in reckoning, 41 Now those who lived before these [sinners] did, too, devise many a blasphemy - but the most subtle devising is that of God, who knows what each human being deserves: and the deniers of the truth will [in time] come to know to whom the future belongs. 42 And those who disbelieve say: thou art not a sent one. Say thou: Allah is a sufficient witness between me and you, and also he with whom is knowledge of the Book. 43