Blest is He Who, if He willed, shall appoint for them something better than that: gardens whereunder the rivers flow, and appoint for them palaces. 10 Aye! they belie the Hour; and We have gotten ready for him who belieth the Hour a Flame. 11 When it will see them from afar, they will hear the sounds of its raging and roaring. 12 And when they are cast, coupled in fetters, into a narrow place of that Fire, they will call out there for destruction. 13 [But they will be told:] "Pray not today for one single extinction, but pray for many extinctions!" 14 Say: Is that (doom) better or the Garden of Immortality which is promised unto those who ward off (evil)? It will be their reward and journey's end. 15 Theirs therein shall be all that they wish for, as abiders; a promise from thy Lord to be asked for. 16 And on the day when He shall gather them, and whatever they served besides Allah, He shall say: Was it you who led astray these My servants, or did they themselves go astray from the path? 17 They will say: "Glorified be You! It was not for us to take any Auliya' (Protectors, Helpers, etc.) besides You, but You gave them and their fathers comfort till they forgot the warning, and became a lost people (doomed to total loss). 18 [Thereupon God will say:] "And now, they [whom you regarded as divine] have given the lie to all your [past] assertions, and you can neither ward off [your punishment] nor obtain any succour! For, whoever of you has committed [such] evil, him shall We cause to taste great suffering!" 19 We never sent before you apostles who did not eat food and walk the market places. We make some of you the means of trying the others. So will you persevere? Your Lord is always watching. 20