We sent Noah to his people and he lived among them for fifty short of a thousand years; then the deluge overtook them, for they were wrongdoers. 14 Then We rescued Noah together with the people in the Ark and made it (that is, the Ark) a lesson for all people. 15 Abraham told his people, "Worship God and have fear of Him. It is better for you if only you knew it. 16 You worship only [lifeless] idols instead of God, and [thus] you give visible shape to a lie! Behold, those [things and beings] that you worship instead of God have it not in their power to provide sustenance for you: seek, then, all [your] sustenance from God, and worship Him [alone] and be grateful to Him: [for] unto Him you shall be brought back! 17 And if ye belie me, then communities before you have belied: and upon the apostle is naught but a preaching manifest. 18 Have they not considered how Allah begins creation and then repeats it? Indeed that, for Allah, is easy. 19 Say: "Go all over the earth and behold how [wondrously] He has created [man] in the first instance: and thus, too, will God bring into being your second life for, verily, God has the power to will anything! 20 He punishes whom He will and shows mercy to whom He pleases. And to Him you shall be returned. 21 You cannot defeat His purpose on earth or in heaven; nor have you any friend or helper besides God." 22