And those who associate others with Allah say, "If Allah had willed, we would not have worshipped anything other than Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything through other than Him." Thus did those do before them. So is there upon the messengers except [the duty of] clear notification? 35 And assuredly We have raised in every community an apostle saying: worship Allah and avoid the devil. Then of them were some whom Allah guided, and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified. Wherefore travel about on the earth, and look on what wise hath been the end of the disbelievers. 36 [Even] if you should strive for their guidance, [O Muhammad], indeed, Allah does not guide those He sends astray, and they will have no helpers. 37 And they swore by Allah most vehemently in their oaths that, “Allah will not raise up the dead”; yes He will, why not? A true promise obligatory upon Him, but most men do not know. 38 So that He might make manifest to them that about which they differ, and that those who disbelieve might know that they were liars. 39 The only words We say to a thing, when We desire it, is that We say to it 'Be,' and it is. 40