We did send messengers before thee, and appointed for them wives and children: and it was never the part of a messenger to bring a sign except as Allah permitted (or commanded). For each period is a Book (revealed). 38 Allah erases and confirms whatever He wills; and only with Him is the real script. 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 that We are bringing destruction upon the land by curtailing it of its sides? And Allah pronounces a doom-- there is no repeller of His decree, and He is swift to take account. 41 And those before them had plotted, but to Allah belongs the plan entirely. He knows what every soul earns, and the disbelievers will know for whom is the final home. 42 The disbelievers say, “You are not a (Noble) Messenger (of Allah)”; proclaim, “Allah is a Sufficient Witness between me and you, and (so is) he who has knowledge of the Book.” 43