Verily, God knows the hidden reality of the heavens and the earth: [and,] behold, He has full knowledge of what is in the hearts [of men]. 38 It is He who has made you successors upon the earth. And whoever disbelieves - upon him will be [the consequence of] his disbelief. And the disbelief of the disbelievers does not increase them in the sight of their Lord except in hatred; and the disbelief of the disbelievers does not increase them except in loss. 39 Say: "Look at the compeers you invoke apart from God. Show me, what of the earth have they created, or what share have they in the heavens?" Or have We given them a Book whose testimony they possess? Not in the least. What the unbelievers have been promising one another is nothing but deceit. 40 ۞ Verily Allah withholdeth the heavens and the earth lest they cease; and should they cease, not any one could withhold them after Him. Verily He is ever Forbearing, Forgiving. 41 They solemnly swear that if a warner were to come to them, they would certainly have been better guided than any other nation. But when a warner came to them, it only increased their hatred 42 because of their pride in the land and their evil plots. Evil plots only affect the plotters. Do they expect anything other than (God's) tradition (torment) with those who lived before. You will never find any change in the tradition of God nor will you find any alteration in it. 43 Do they not travel through the earth, and see what was the End of those before them,- though they were superior to them in strength? Nor is Allah to be frustrated by anything whatever in the heavens or on earth: for He is All-Knowing. All-Powerful. 44 Were Allah to take mankind to task for that which they earn, He would not leave a moving creature on the back thereof; but He putteth them off until a term appointed; then when their term cometh, then, verily Allah is ever of His bondmen a Beholder. 45