۞ Had God hastened the punishment of men as He hastens the good, the end of their term of life would already have been reached. We leave those who do not hope to meet Us groping along in their arrogance. 11 And when harm toucheth man, he calleth us on his side, or sitting or standing; then when We have removed his harm from him, he passeth on as though he had never called Us to a harm that touched him. In this wise is made fairseeming unto the extravagant that which they have been working. 12 We destroyed the generations before you when they did evil, and their Messengers came to them with the clear signs, but they would not believe; so We recompense the people of the sinners. 13 Then We appointed you viceroys in the earth after them, that We might see how ye behave. 14 And when Our clear communications are recited to them, those who hope not for Our meeting say: Bring a Quran other than this or change it. Say: It does not beseem me that I should change it of myself; I follow naught but what is revealed to me; surely I fear, if I disobey my Lord, the punishment of a mighty day. 15 Say: 'Had God willed I would not have recited it to you, neither would He have taught you it; I abode among you a lifetime before it -- will you not understand?' 16 Who is more unjust than the man who invents a falsehood about God or denies His signs? Surely, the guilty shall never prosper. 17 And they worship besides Allah things that hurt them not, nor profit them, and they say: "These are our intercessors with Allah." Say: "Do you inform Allah of that which He knows not in the heavens and on the earth?" Glorified and Exalted be He above all that which they associate as partners 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 And they say: wherefore is not a sign sent down unto him from his Lord! Say thou: the hidden belongeth unto Allah alone; so wait, verily I am with you among those who wait. 20