۞ If Allah should hasten evil to people as they would hasten good, their term would already have been decided. But We leave those who do not expect to meet Us to wander blindly in their insolence. 11 Whenever any trouble befalls a person, he prays to Us all the time, lying on his side, sitting or standing; but when We remove his trouble, he goes on his way as if he had never prayed to Us for the removal of his trouble. Thus it is that the doings of the transgressors are made to look fair to them. 12 We destroyed generations before you when they did evil. (When) their Messengers came to them with clear verses they would not believe; so We recompense the sinning nation. 13 Now We have appointed you as their successors in the earth to see how you act. 14 And when Our signs are recited to them, clear signs, those who look not to encounter Us say, 'Bring a Koran other than this, or alter it.' Say: 'It is not for me to alter it of my own accord. I follow nothing, except what is revealed to me. Truly I fear, if I should rebel against my Lord, the chastisement of a dreadful day.' 15 Say: If Allah had so willed I should not have recited it to you nor would He have made it known to you. I dwelt among you a whole lifetime before it (came to me). Have ye then no sense? 16 Who, then, is a greater wrong-doer than he who forges a lie against Allah or rejects His signs as false? Surely the guilty shall not prosper. 17 They worship those besides God who cannot do them harm or bring them gain, and say: "These are our intercessors with God." Say: "Do you want to inform God of things in the heavens and the earth He does not know?" Glorious is He, and too exalted for what they associate with Him! 18 Men were once a community of one faith; but they differed (and followed different ways). Had it not been for the word proclaimed by your Lord before, their differences would have been resolved. 19 They ask, "Why has no sign been sent down to him from his Lord?" Tell them, "God alone has knowledge of the unseen. So wait; I too will wait with you." 20