Surely Allah knows the Unseen in the heavens and the earth. He even knows the secrets hidden in people's breasts. 38 He it is who hath made you successors in the earth. So whosoever disbelieveth, on him will befall his infidelity. And for the infidels their infidelity increaseth with their Lord naught save abhorence. And for the infidels their infidelity increaseth naught save loss. 39 Say: 'Have you considered your associates on whom you call, apart from God? Show me what they have created in the earth; or have they a partnership in the heavens?' Or have We given them a Book, so that they are upon a clear sign from it? Nay, but the evildoers promise one another naught but delusion. 40 ۞ It is Allah who holds the heavens and the earth lest they vanish. Should they vanish, none would hold them after Him. He is the Clement, the Forgiving. 41 And they swore by Allah most vehemently in their oaths, that if a Herald of Warning came to them, they would be more upon guidance than any other group; then when a Herald of Warning did come to them, he increased nothing in them except hatred. 42 and they behaved arrogantly in the land and plotted evil. But the plotting of evil only rebounds on those who plot. Are they but looking for the way the previous peoples [sinners] were dealt with? You will never find any change in the ways of God; nor will you ever find God's decree averted. 43 Have they not travelled around the earth and seen the fate of those who preceded them? And they were far superior to them in strength. Nothing in the heavens or the earth can ever frustrate God's [plans]. He is all-knowing and all powerful. 44 If Allah were to take people to task for their deeds, He would not leave any living creature on earth, but He grants them respite to an appointed time. When their appointed time comes to an end, surely Allah fully observes His servants. 45