How many a city that was evildoing We have shattered, and set up after it another people! 11 Whensoever they sensed Our punishment they fled from them. 12 'Run not! Return you unto the luxury that you exulted in, and your dwelling-places; haply you shall be questioned.' 13 They said, 'Alas for us! We have been evildoers.' 14 And that cry of theirs did not cease until We caused them to become [like] a field mown down, still and silent as ashes. 15 And We have not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, unnecessarily. 16 Had We intended that We should choose a sport, surely We would choose it from before Us - if We were ever going to do that. 17 Aye! We hurl truth against falsehood, so that it braineth it, and lo! it vanisheth; and to you be the woe for that which ye utter! 18 To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth. Those who are with Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor are they ever wearied. 19 They glorify Him day and night without fail. 20 Have they chosen deities from earth? Can such deities give life to anyone? 21 Had there been in between the twain gods except Allah surely the twain would have gone to ruin. Hallowed be Allah, the Lord of the Throne, from that which they utter! 22 None shall question Him about what He does, but they shall be questioned. 23 Or have they taken gods besides Him? Say, [O Muhammad], "Produce your proof. This [Qur'an] is the message for those with me and the message of those before me." But most of them do not know the truth, so they are turning away. 24 and [this despite the fact that even] before thy time We never sent any apostle without having revealed to him that there is no deity save Me, - [and that,] therefore, you shall worship Me [alone]! 25 And they say: The Beneficent Allah has taken to Himself a son. Glory be to Him. Nay! they are honored servants 26 They do not speak before He has, and they act only at His command. 27 He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already] graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him. 28 ۞ And if any of them should say: "Verily, I am an ilah (a god) besides Him (Allah)," such a one We should recompense with Hell. Thus We recompense the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc.). 29