Those who associate [others with God] say, "If God had so willed we would not have worshipped anything besides Him, neither we nor our fathers, nor would we have forbidden anything without His sanction." So did those who went before them. The duty of the messengers is only to convey the message clearly. 35 And assuredly We have raised in every community an apostle saying: worship Allah and avoid the devil. Then of them were some whom Allah guided, and of them were some upon whom the straying was justified. Wherefore travel about on the earth, and look on what wise hath been the end of the disbelievers. 36 If thou art anxious for their guidance, yet Allah guideth not such as He leaves to stray, and there is none to help them. 37 And they swear by God the most solemn of oaths that God would not raise him who dieth. Yea! it is a promise on Him incumbent but most of mankind know not. 38 That He may explain unto them that wherein they differ, and that those who disbelieved may know that they were liars. 39 The only words We say to a thing, when We desire it, is that We say to it 'Be,' and it is. 40