The worshippers of false gods say: "If Allah had so willed, we should not have worshipped aught but Him - neither we nor our fathers,- nor should we have prescribed prohibitions other than His." So did those who went before them. But what is the mission of messengers but to preach the Clear Message? 35 And certainly We raised in every nation an apostle saying: Serve Allah and shun the Shaitan. So there were some of them whom Allah guided and there were others against whom error was due; therefore travel in the land, then see what was the end of the rejecters. 36 If thou art solicitous for their guidance, then verily Allah guideth not whomsoever He sendeth astray, and for them there are no helpers. 37 They swear their strongest oaths by God that God will never raise the dead to life -- nonetheless, it is a promise truly binding on Him, even though most people do not realize it -- 38 This will be in order that he may manifest unto them that wherein they differ, and that those who disbelieved should come to know that they had been liars. 39 Our word for a thing when We intend it, is only that We say to it, Be, and it is. 40