And We have already sent messengers before you and assigned to them wives and descendants. And it was not for a messenger to come with a sign except by permission of Allah. For every term is a decree. 38 God annuls or confirms whatever He wills [of His earlier messages] - for with Him is the source of all revelation. 39 Whether We show them (the unbelievers) to you facing the punishment with which We had threatened them, or make you die first (before its fulfillment), your duty is only to preach. It is up to Us to call them to account (for their deeds). 40 Have they not seen that We set upon the land, reducing it from its borders? And Allah decides; there is no adjuster of His decision. And He is swift in account. 41 And those before them had plotted, but to Allah belongs the plan entirely. He knows what every soul earns, and the disbelievers will know for whom is the final home. 42 The disbelievers say, “You are not a (Noble) Messenger (of Allah)”; proclaim, “Allah is a Sufficient Witness between me and you, and (so is) he who has knowledge of the Book.” 43