۞ Permitted are those who are fought against, because they have been oppressed, and verily to succour them Allah is Potent. 39 Those who were unjustly expelled from their homes just because they said, “Allah is Our Lord”; and had Allah not repelled some men by means of other men, the abbeys, churches, synagogues and mosques – in which the name of Allah is profusely mentioned – would definitely be demolished; and indeed Allah will assist the one who helps His religion; indeed surely Allah is Almighty, Dominant. 40 [well aware of] those who, [even] if We firmly establish them on earth, remain constant in prayer, and give in charity, and enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong; but with God rests the final outcome of all events. 41 If they cry lies to thee, so too before them the people of Noah cried lies, and Ad and Thamood, 42 as did the people of Abraham, and the people of Lot, 43 and the inhabitants of Midian, to Moses they also belied. I respited the unbelievers, then I seized them, and how was My disapproval! 44 How many were the unjust dwellers of the towns that We destroyed. From their trellises to their lofty mansions, all were toppled and their wells were abandoned. 45 Have they not travelled (sufficiently) in the land to have understanding hearts and listening ears? It is their hearts which are blind, not their ears. 46 And they will bid thee hasten on the Doom, and Allah faileth not His promise, but lo! a Day with Allah is as a thousand years of what ye reckon. 47 And how many a township did I suffer long though it was sinful! Then I grasped it. Unto Me is the return. 48