We did send messengers before thee, and appointed for them wives and children: and it was never the part of a messenger to bring a sign except as Allah permitted (or commanded). For each period is a Book (revealed). 38 God abrogates or confirms what He pleases; with Him is the source of all commandments. 39 And whether We shew thee part of that which We have promised them, or We take thee away; on thee is only the preaching, and on Us is the reckoning. 40 Do they not see how We come to [their] land and shrink its borders? God decides, no one can reverse His decision, and He is swift in reckoning. 41 Now those who lived before these [sinners] did, too, devise many a blasphemy - but the most subtle devising is that of God, who knows what each human being deserves: and the deniers of the truth will [in time] come to know to whom the future belongs. 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