۞ PERMISSION [to fight] is given to those against whom war is being wrongfully waged and verily, God has indeed the power to succour them: 39 those who have been unjustly driven from their homes, just because they said: 'Our Lord is Allah' Had Allah not repelled some people by the means of others, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and mosques in which the Name of Allah is remembered would have been destroyed. But whoever helps Allah shall be helped by Him. Allah is the Strong, the Almighty, 40 Those who, if We give them power in the land, establish worship and pay the poor-due and enjoin kindness and forbid iniquity. And Allah's is the sequel of events. 41 If they accuse you of falsehood, (remember that) the people of Noah, 'Ad and Thamud had accused (their apostles) before, 42 And the people of Abraham and Lot, 43 and the inhabitants of Midian, to Moses they also belied. I respited the unbelievers, then I seized them, and how was My disapproval! 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 Have they, then, never journeyed about the earth, letting their hearts gain wisdom, and causing their ears to hear? Yet, verily, it is not their eyes that have become blind - but blind have become the hearts that are in their 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 how many a town to which I gave respite while it was unjust, then I overtook it, and to Me is the return. 48