[And thus will God continue:] "O you who have lived in close communion with [evil] invisible beings and [like-minded] humans! Have there not come unto you apostles from among yourselves, who conveyed unto you My messages and warned you of the coming of this your Day [of Judgment]?" They will answer: "We do bear witness against ourselves!" - for the life of this world had beguiled them: and so they will bear witness against themselves that they had been denying the truth. 130 This is because your Lord would not destroy the (populations of) towns for their wrong-doing (i.e. associating others in worship along with Allah) while their people were unaware (so the Messengers were sent). 131 For all are degrees of rank according to their deeds; your Lord is not unaware of anything they do. 132 Your Lord is Rich and the Owner of Mercy. He can destroy you if He will and replace you with whom He pleases, just as He raised you from the offspring of other nations. 133 Surely what you are threatened with must come to pass and you cannot escape (it). 134 Say: 'Work according to your station my people, for indeed I am working' You shall know to whom will be the good end of the abode. The harmdoers shall not be triumphant. 135 They set aside for God a share in what He has produced, such as crops and livestock, and they say, "This is for God," so they claim!, and "this is for our associate-gods?" Their associate-gods' share does not reach God, whereas God's share reaches their associate-gods. How ill they judge! 136 Thus have their (so-called) partners (of Allah) made the killing of their children to seem fair unto many of the idolaters, that they may ruin them and make their faith obscure for them. Had Allah willed (it otherwise), they had not done so. So leave them alone with their devices. 137 They, (the pagans), have said that their cattle and farms are dedicated to private idols and that no one can consume (the produce) except those whom We wanted, in their opinion. They prohibited the riding of certain animals and they ate the flesh of certain animals slaughtered without a mention of the Name of God. Instead, they ascribed falsehood to Him. They will all be given an evil recompense for their sinful invention. 138 They say, "What is in the wombs of such and such cattle is exclusively for our males and is forbidden to our females. But if it is stillborn, they may have a share of it." God will soon punish them for their [false] attribution. He is wise, and all-knowing. 139 Indeed lost are they who have killed their children, from folly, without knowledge, and have forbidden that which Allah has provided for them, inventing a lie against Allah. They have indeed gone astray and were not guided. 140