Indeed Allah is All Knowing – of all the hidden things in the heavens and in the earth; indeed He knows what lies within the hearts. 38 It is He who made you caliphs in the earth. He who disbelieves, his disbelief shall be charged against him. The unbelievers disbelief does nothing for them, except, increase them in hate with Allah; their disbelief increases the unbelievers only in loss. 39 Say: "Look at the compeers you invoke apart from God. Show me, what of the earth have they created, or what share have they in the heavens?" Or have We given them a Book whose testimony they possess? Not in the least. What the unbelievers have been promising one another is nothing but deceit. 40 ۞ Verily Allah withholdeth the heavens and the earth lest they cease; and should they cease, not any one could withhold them after Him. Verily He is ever Forbearing, Forgiving. 41 Swearing by Allah their strongest oaths they claimed that if a warner came to them they would be better-guided than any other people. But when a warner did come to them, his coming only increased their aversion (to the Truth). 42 As did their arrogance in the land, and their plotting of evil. But their evil plots will turn back on the plotters themselves. So can they expect any thing but what befell the earlier people? You will not find any change in the law of God, nor will you find divine law mutable. 43 Have they not journeyed in the earth to behold the end of those who went before them though they were stronger than them in might? Nothing in the heavens nor on earth can frustrate Him in the least. He is All-Knowing, All-Powerful. 44 Were God to punish people for their deeds immediately, not one creature would have survived on earth. However, He has given them a respite for an appointed time and when their term comes to an end, let it be known that God watches over His servants. 45