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 Allah blots out, and He establishes what He will. With Him is the Essence of the Book. 39 Whether We shall show thee (within thy life-time) part of what we promised them or take to ourselves thy soul (before it is all accomplished),- thy duty is to make (the Message) reach them: it is our part to call them to account. 40 Have they not seen how We come to the land diminishing it in its extremities? God judges; none repels His judgment; He is swift at the reckoning. 41 Those who have gone before them devised, but to Allah is the devising altogether. He knows what every soul earns. The unbelievers shall know without doubt for whom is the Ultimate Abode. 42 Those who deny the truth say, "You are not God's messenger." Say, "Sufficient is God as my witness between me and you, and those who have knowledge of the Book." 43