Surely the Messengers before you were ridiculed, but I always initially granted respite to those who disbelieved, and then I seized them (with chastisement). Then, how awesome was My chastisement! 32 Is then He who watches over every soul and its actions [like any other]? Yet they ascribe partners to God. Say, "Name them! Or do you presume to inform Him of something on the earth of which He does not know? Or, is all this only your verbal assertion?" Indeed, their devices seem fair to those who deny the truth, and they are kept back from the right path. There can be no guide for those whom God lets go astray. 33 They shall suffer chastisement in the life of the world, and surely the chastisement of the Hereafter is even more grievous. None has the power to shield them from (the chastisement of) Allah. 34 ۞ The example of Paradise, which the righteous have been promised, is [that] beneath it rivers flow. Its fruit is lasting, and its shade. That is the consequence for the righteous, and the consequence for the disbelievers is the Fire. 35 And those to whom We have given the Book rejoice in that which has been revealed to you, and of the confederates are some who deny a part of it. Say: I am only commanded that I should serve Allah and not associate anything with Him, to Him do I invite (you) and to Him is my return. 36 Thus, then, have We bestowed from on high this [divine writ] as an ordinance in the Arabic tongue. And indeed, if thou shouldst defer to men's likes and dislikes after all the [divine] knowledge that has come unto thee, thou wouldst have none to protect thee from God, and none to shield thee [from Him]. 37