O mankind! Worship your Lord, Who has created you and those before you, in the hope of attaining piety. 21 Who made the earth a resting place for you and the heaven a canopy and (Who) sends down rain from the cloud, then brings forth with it subsistence for you of the fruits; therefore do not set up rivals to Allah while you know. 22 And if you doubt any part of what We have bestowed from on high, step by step, upon Our servant [Muhammad,] then produce a surah of similar merit, and call upon any other than God to bear witness for you if what you say is true! 23 But if you cannot do it, and you can never do it, then guard yourselves against the Fire whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for those who deny the truth. 24 And give glad tidings to those who believe and do good deeds; that for them are Gardens beneath which rivers flow; when they are provided with a fruit of the Gardens, they will say, “This is the same food as what was given to us before” whereas it is in resemblance; and in the Gardens are pure spouses for them; and they shall abide in it forever. 25 ۞ Allah is not shy to strike a parable whatsoever a gnat or larger. Those who believe know that it is the truth from their Lord. As for those who disbelieve they ask: 'What could Allah mean by this parable? By it, Allah misleads many and guides many.' But He misleads none except the evildoers, 26 Those who break Allah's Covenant after it is ratified, and who sunder what Allah Has ordered to be joined, and do mischief on earth: These cause loss (only) to themselves. 27 How dare you deny the existence of God Who gave you life when you initially had no life. He will cause you to die and bring you to life again. Then you will return to His Presence. 28 He it is Who created for you all that is in the earth. Then turned He to the heaven, and fashioned it as seven heavens. And He is knower of all things. 29