۞ Permission to take up arms is hereby granted to those who are attacked; they have suffered injustice. God has all the power to give victory 39 they are those who have been driven out of their homes unjustly, only because they said, "Our Lord is God." If God did not repel the aggression of some people by means of others, cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of God is much invoked, would surely be destroyed. God will surely help him who helps His cause -- God is indeed powerful and mighty. 40 Those who, if We establish them in the earth, shall establish the prayer and give the poor-rate and command that which is reputable and restrain that which is disreputable; and unto Allah is the end of all affairs. 41 If your opponents deny you, remember that, before them, the people of Noah and the tribes of 'Ad and Thamud denied their messengers likewise. 42 and so too did the people of Abraham and the people of Lot; 43 And the people of Madyan; and Moosa was belied, so I gave the disbelievers respite and then seized them, so how (dreadful) was My punishment! 44 And how many a township have We destroyed because it had been immersed in evildoing - and now they [all] lie deserted, with their roofs caved in! And how many a well lies abandoned, and how many a castle that [once] stood high! 45 So have they not traveled through the earth and have hearts by which to reason and ears by which to hear? For indeed, it is not eyes that are blinded, but blinded are the hearts which are within the breasts. 46 And [so, O Muhammad,] they challenge thee to hasten the coming upon them of [God's] chastisement: but God never fails to fulfill His promise - and behold, in thy Sustainer's sight a day is like a thousand years of your reckoning. 47 And to many a township did I give respite although they were oppressors; then I seized them; and towards Me is the return. 48