۞ To those against whom war is made, permission is given (to fight), because they are wronged;- and verily, Allah is most powerful for their aid;- 39 those who have been driven from their homelands against all right for no other reason than their saying: "Our Sustainer is God!" For, if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques - in [all of] which God's name is abundantly extolled - would surely have been destroyed [ere now]. And God will most certainly succour him who succours His cause: for, verily, God is most powerful, almighty, 40 [well aware of] those who, [even] if We firmly establish them on earth, remain constant in prayer, and give in charity, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong; but with God rests the final outcome of all events. 41 And if they belie thee, then surely there have belied before them the people of Nuh and the 'Aad and the Thamud. 42 and the people of Abraham, the people of Lot, 43 and the inhabitants of Midian also charged their prophets with falsehood. Moses was also rejected. I gave respite to those who denied the truth, but then I seized them. Consider then, how terrible My repudiation of them was. 44 How many were the unjust dwellers of the towns that We destroyed. From their trellises to their lofty mansions, all were toppled and their wells were abandoned. 45 Have they never journeyed through the land so that they have hearts to understand, or ears to hear with? It is not the eyes, but the hearts in the chests that are blind. 46 They ask you to hasten the punishment; God will never go back on His promise. A Day with your Lord is like a thousand years in your reckoning. 47 To how many habitations did We give respite, though given to wickedness, and then seized them. To Me they had to come back in the end. 48