Yet man asks for evil as eagerly as he should ask for good. Truly, man is indeed hasty. 11 We have made the day and night each as evidence (of Our existence). The night is invisible and the day is visible so that you may seek favors from your Lord and determine the number of years and mark the passing of time. For everything We have given a detailed explanation. 12 And every man -- We have fastened to him his bird of omen upon his neck; and We shall bring forth for him, on the Day of Resurrection, a book he shall find spread wide open. 13 'Read your book. Your self suffices you this Day as a reckoner against you' 14 Whoever chooses to follow the right path, follows it but for his own good; and whoever goes astray, goes but astray to his own hurt; and no bearer of burdens shall be made to bear another's burden. Moreover, We would never chastise [any community for the wrong they may do] ere We have sent an apostle [to them]. 15 But when [this has been done, and] it is Our will to destroy a community, We convey Our last warning to those of its people who have lost themselves entirely in the pursuit of pleasures; and [if] they [continue to] act sinfully, the sentence [of doom] passed on the community takes effect, and We break it to smithereens. 16 How many a generation have We destroyed after Nuh; and sufficeth for the offences of His bondmen thy Lord as the Aware, the Beholder. 17 If any do wish for the transitory things (of this life), We readily grant them - such things as We will, to such person as We will: in the end have We provided Hell for them: they will burn therein, disgraced and rejected. 18 Those who do wish for the (things of) the Hereafter, and strive therefor with all due striving, and have Faith,- they are the ones whose striving is acceptable (to Allah). 19 "We bestow from the gifts of your Lord on these and on those, for the gifts of your Lord are not restricted. 20 Behold thou! how We have preferred some of them over some others; and surely: the Hereafter is greater in degrees and greater in preferment. 21 DO NOT set up any other deity side by side with God, lest thou find thyself disgraced and forsaken: 22