And when We give mankind the taste of mercy after some hardship which had afflicted them, they immediately start conspiring against Our signs; proclaim, “The secret plan of Allah is the fastest”; indeed Our angels record your scheming. 21 It is God who enables you to travel on land and sea. And when you are sailing on ships and rejoicing in the favourable wind, a storm arrives, and the waves surge upon those on board from every side and they think they are encompassed, then they make a fervent appeal to God, saying in all sincerity, "If You deliver us from this, we will surely be of the thankful." 22 But when He has delivered them, they begin, wrongfully to commit excesses in the land. O you men, your excesses only affect your own selves. Have the enjoyment of the present life. Then to Us you shall return; and We will inform you of all that you have done. 23 The life of the world is like the water which We send down from the sky, and which is absorbed by the plants of the earth, from which men and cattle eat. But when the earth has taken on its finest appearance, and looks beautiful, and its people think they have it under their control, then by day or by night, Our command comes to it and We convert it into a field of stubble, as if nothing had existed there the day before. Thus We make plain Our revelations for those who reflect. 24 (You are being lured by this ephemeral world) although Allah calls you to the abode of peace and guides whomsoever He wills to a straightway. 25 ۞ the good-doers the reward most fair and a surplus; neither dust nor abasement shall overspread their faces. Those are the inhabitants of Paradise, therein dwelling forever. 26 But as for those who have done evil deeds, the recompense shall be in proportion. They will have none to defend them against God. Ignominy shall cover them, as though their faces were veiled by the night's own darkness. It is they who are destined for the fire, where they will live forever. 27 The day We shall gather them all together We shall say to the idolaters: "Take your stand with the compeers you worshipped as the equals of God." We shall then create a rift between them, and the compeers will say: "You did not worship us; 28 and none can bear witness between us and you as God does: we were, for certain, unaware of your worshipping [us]. 29 There doth every soul experience that which it did aforetime, and they are returned unto Allah, their rightful Lord, and that which they used to invent hath failed them. 30