We sent Messengers before you (Muhammad) and gave them wives and offspring. No Messenger was to show miracles without the permission of God. 38 Allah makes to pass away and establishes what He pleases, and with Him is the basis of the Book. 39 Whether We allow you to see (the punishment) We have promised them, or end your life before (its execution), it is certainly for you to convey the message; the reckoning is for Us to do. 40 Have, then, they [who deny the truth] never yet seen how We visit the earth [with Our punishment,] gradually depriving it of all that is best thereon? For, [when] God judges, there is no power that could repel His judgment: and swift in reckoning is He! 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 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