Say thou unto My bondmen that they should say that which is best, Verily the Satan would stir up strife between them; verily the Satan is unto men ever an enemy manifest. 53 Your Lord knows you best. He will have mercy on you if He wills and chastise you if He wills. We have not sent you, (O Muhammad), as an overseer over them. 54 And your Lord knows well all those who are in the heavens and the earth; and indeed among the Prophets We gave excellence to some above others, and We gave the Zaboor to Dawud. 55 SAY: "Call upon those [beings] whom you imagine [to be endowed with divine powers] beside Him and [you will find that] they have it not in their power to remove any affliction from you, or to shift it [elsewhere]." 56 Those [saintly beings] whom they invoke are themselves striving to obtain their Sustainer's favour - [even] those among them who are closest [to Him] - hoping for His grace and dreading His chastisement: for, verily, thy Sustainer's chastisement is something to beware of! 57 And there is not a town but We will destroy it before the day of resurrection or chastise it with a severe chastisement; this is written in the Divine ordinance. 58 We did not abstain from sending miracles to any of Our Messengers. These miracles were called lies by the people who lived in ancient times. To the people of Thamud, We sent the she-camel as a visible miracle and they did injustice to it. We only send miracles as warnings. 59 And recall when We said to you, (O Muhammad), that your Lord encompasses these people; and that We have made that vision that We have shown you, and the tree accursed in the Qur'an, but as a trial for people. We go about warning them, but each warning leads them to greater transgression. 60