We have sent forth other Messengers before you and given them wives and descendants. Yet none of them could bring a sign except by the permission of Allah. Every term has its Book. 38 Allah makes to pass away and establishes what He pleases, and with Him is the basis of the Book. 39 Whether We show them (the unbelievers) to you facing the punishment with which We had threatened them, or make you die first (before its fulfillment), your duty is only to preach. It is up to Us to call them to account (for their deeds). 40 Have they not considered that We have taken over the land and reduced its borders? It is God who issues the irreversible decree and His reckoning is swift. 41 And those before them did indeed make plans, but all planning is Allah's; He knows what every soul earns, and the unbelievers shall come to know for whom is the (better) issue of the abode. 42 (Muhammad), the unbelievers say, "You are not a Messenger." Say, "God and those who have the knowledge of the Book are sufficient witness (to my prophethood)." 43