۞ O men, it is you who stand in need of God. As for God, He is above all need, worthy of praise. 15 If He so wills, He can do away with you and bring forth a new mankind [in your stead]: 16 And that is not hard for Allah. 17 AND NO BEARER of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden; and if one weighed down by his load calls upon [another] to help him carry it, nothing thereof may be carried [by that other,] even if it be one's near of kin. Hence, thou canst [truly] warn only those who stand in awe of their Sustainer although He is beyond the reach of their perception, and are constant in prayer, and [know that] whoever grows in purity, attains to purity but for the good of his own self, and [that] with God is all journeys' end. 18 Not alike are the blind (disbelievers in Islamic Monotheism) and the seeing (believers in Islamic Monotheism). 19 Nor the darkness and the light, 20 nor cool shade and torrid heat; 21 Equal are not the living and the dead. Verily God makes those He will to listen; but you cannot make those hear who are in their graves. 22 You, [O Muhammad], are not but a warner. 23 Verily We have sent thee in truth, as a bearer of glad tidings, and as a warner: and there never was a people, without a warner having lived among them (in the past). 24 If they give the lie to you now, those that went before them also gave the lie to their Messengers when they came to them with Clear Proofs, with Scriptures, and with the Illuminating Book. 25 [but] in the end I took to task all those who were bent on denying the truth: and how awesome was My rejection! 26