We indeed sent many Messengers before you and We gave them wives and children; and no Messenger had the power to produce a miraculous sign except by the command of Allah. Every age has its own (revealed) Book. 38 Allah effaceth what He will, and establisheth (what He will), and with Him is the source of ordinance. 39 Whether We shall show thee (within thy life-time) part of what we promised them or take to ourselves thy soul (before it is all accomplished),- thy duty is to make (the Message) reach them: it is our part to call them to account. 40 Do they not see how We come to the land and reduce its extremities? Allah judges; none repel His judgement. Swift is His reckoning. 41 Now those who lived before these [sinners] did, too, devise many a blasphemy - but the most subtle devising is that of God, who knows what each human being deserves: and the deniers of the truth will [in time] come to know to whom the future belongs. 42 Those who disbelieve say: 'You are not a Messenger' Say: 'Allah is a Sufficient witness between me and you, and whosoever possess knowledge of the Book' 43