Say to My servants that they should (only) say those things that are best: for Satan doth sow dissensions among them: For Satan is to man an avowed enemy. 53 Your Lord knows you better: He may have mercy on you if He please, or punish you if He will. Yet We have not sent you as warden over them. 54 We have given preference to some Prophets over others and We gave the psalms to David. 55 Call upon those you claim to be deities besides God and you will know that they have no power to remove affliction from you or to bring about any change [that you may desire]. 56 Those whom they call upon are themselves seeking the means of access to their Lord, each trying to be nearer to Him. They crave for His Mercy and dread His chastisement. Surely your Lord's punishment is to be feared. 57 There is not a township but We shall destroy it ere the Day of Resurrection, or punish it with dire punishment. That is set forth in the Book (of Our decrees). 58 Nothing could stop Us from sending signs except that the earlier people had rejected them as lies. We sent to Thamud the she-camel as a token to make it clear to them, but they treated her cruelly; and We send signs only to deter. 59 And (it was a warning) when we told thee: Lo! thy Lord encompasseth mankind, and We appointed the sight which We showed thee as an ordeal for mankind, and (likewise) the Accursed Tree in the Qur'an. We warn them, but it increaseth them in naught save gross impiety. 60