۞ Permission to fight is granted to those who are attacked, because they have been wronged, God indeed has the power to help them, 39 to those who were unjustly expelled from their homes only because they said, "God is our Lord." Had it not been for God's repelling some people through the might of the others, the monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques in which God is very often worshipped would have been utterly destroyed. God shall certainly help those who help Him. He is All-powerful and Majestic. 40 who, if We establish them in the land, perform the prayer, and pay the alms, and bid to honour, and forbid dishonour; and unto God belongs the issue of all affairs. 41 If they have called you, (Muhammad), a liar, (remember that) the people of Noah, Ad, Thamud, 42 And the folk of Abraham and the folk of Lot; 43 and the dwellers of Madyan; and [so, too,] Moses was given the lie [by Pharaoh]. And [in every ease] I gave rein, for a while, to the deniers of the truth: but then I took them to task - and how awesome was My denial [of them]! 44 And many a township did We destroy, for they were oppressors – so they now lie flat on their roofs, and many a well lying useless and many a palace in ruins. 45 Do they not travel through the land, so that their hearts (and minds) may thus learn wisdom and their ears may thus learn to hear? Truly it is not their eyes that are blind, but their hearts which are in their breasts. 46 And they will bid thee hasten on the Doom, and Allah faileth not His promise, but lo! a Day with Allah is as a thousand years of what ye reckon. 47 How many a city I have respited in its evildoing; then I seized it, and to Me was the homecoming. 48