And this (the Qur’an) is the blessed Book which We have sent down; so follow it and be pious, so there may be mercy upon you. 155 [It has been given to you] lest you say: "Only unto two groups of people, [both of them] before our time, has a divine writ been bestowed from on high and we were indeed unaware of their teachings"; 156 Or lest ye should say: "If the Book had only been sent down to us, we should have followed its guidance better than they." Now then hath come unto you a clear (sign) from your Lord,- and a guide and a mercy: then who could do more wrong than one who rejecteth Allah's signs, and turneth away therefrom? In good time shall We requite those who turn away from Our signs, with a dreadful penalty, for their turning away. 157 They await indeed that the angel should come unto them, or that thy Lord should come or that certain of the signs of thy Lord should come. On the Day whereon certain of the signs of thy Lord will come, belief will not profit any person who had not believed theretofore or had not earned any good by his belief. Say thou: so wait ye verily we also are waiting. 158 Indeed, those who have divided their religion and become sects - you, [O Muhammad], are not [associated] with them in anything. Their affair is only [left] to Allah; then He will inform them about what they used to do. 159 Whoever brings a good deed, he shall have ten like it, and whoever brings an evil deed, he shall be recompensed only with the like of it, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly. 160 Say: Lo! As for me, my Lord hath guided me unto a straight path, a right religion, the community of Abraham, the upright, who was no idolater. 161 Say thou: verily my prayer and my rites and my living and my dying are all for Allah, Lord of the worlds. 162 He has no associate. Thus have I been bidden, and I am the foremost of those who submit themselves (to Allah).` 163 Say: "Shall I seek a lord other than Allah, while He is the Lord of all things? No person earns any (sin) except against himself (only), and no bearer of burdens shall bear the burden of another. Then unto your Lord is your return, so He will tell you that wherein you have been differing." 164 He it is Who hath placed you as viceroys of the earth and hath exalted some of you in rank above others, that He may try you by (the test of) that which He hath given you. Lo! Thy Lord is swift in prosecution, and Lo! He verily is Forgiving, Merciful. 165