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 [As for those who are bent on denying the truth - ] though thou be ever so eager to show them the right way, [know that,] verily, God does not bestow His guidance upon any whom He judges to have gone astray; and such shall have none to succour them [on Resurrection Day]. 37 They solemnly swear by Allah that Allah will never raise the dead to life. No, surely the promise of Allah is binding upon Him, though most people do not know. 38 this is so that He may make clear to them what they have differed about and so that those who are bent on denying the truth may realize that they were lying. 39 The only words We say to a thing, when We desire it, is that We say to it 'Be,' and it is. 40