We have indeed turned about for men in this Koran every manner of similitude; man is the most disputatious of things. 54 And nothing prevents men from believing when the guidance comes to them, and from asking forgiveness of their Lord, except that what happened to the ancients should overtake them, or that the chastisement should come face to face with them. 55 We only send the messengers to give Glad Tidings and to give warnings: But the unbelievers dispute with vain argument, in order therewith to weaken the truth, and they treat My Signs as a jest, as also the fact that they are warned! 56 And who doth greater wrong than he who is admonished with the signs of His Lord yet turneth away from them and forgetteth that which his hands have sent forth? Verily We have set up veils over their hearts lest they should understand it, and in their ears a heaviness; and if thou callest them to the guidance, lo! they will not let themselves be guided ever. 57 And your Lord is Forgiving, the Lord of Mercy; were He to punish them for what they earn, He would certainly have hastened the chastisement for them; but for them there is an appointed time from which they shall not find a refuge. 58 We destroyed these communities when they went on doing wrong, and We appointed a time for their destruction. 59