And propound thou unto them the similitude of the inhabitants of a town, when there came thereto the sent ones. 13 We sent to them two Messengers and they rejected both of them as liars. Then We strengthened them with a third (Messenger). They said: “We have been sent to you as Messengers.” 14 The people of the town said: “You are only human beings like ourselves, and the Merciful Lord has revealed nothing. You are simply lying.” 15 They said: our Lord knoweth that we are surely unto you the sent ones. 16 "And our duty is only to convey plainly (the Message)." 17 (The people of the city) said: We augur ill of you. If ye desist not, we shall surely stone you, and grievous torture will befall you at our hands. 18 [The apostles] replied: "Your destiny, good or evil, is [bound up] with yourselves! [Does it seem evil to you] if you are told to take [the truth] to heart? Nay, but you are people who have wasted their own selves!" 19 And from the remote part of the city there came a man running, he said: O my people! follow the apostles; 20 "Obey those who ask no reward of you (for themselves), and who have themselves received Guidance. 21 And what reason have I that I should not serve Him Who brought me into existence? And to Him you shall be brought back; 22 Shall I take (other) gods in place of Him when, if the Beneficent should wish me any harm, their intercession will avail me naught, nor can they save? 23 and so, behold, I would have indeed, most obviously, lost myself in error! 24 Behold, I believe in your Lord; therefore hear me!' 25 (Eventually they killed him and he was told): “Enter Paradise.” The man exclaimed: “Would that my people knew 26 that my Lord has forgiven me, and caused me to be amongst the receivers of generosity' 27 ۞ And We did not send down upon his people after him any soldiers from the heaven, nor would We have done so. 28 It was only a single blast which made them extinct. 29 Alas for My servants! Never does a Messenger come to them but they mock him. 30 Have they not seen how many generations, living before them, had We destroyed and they cannot ever come back to them? 31 All of them shall (one day) be gathered before Us. 32