AND TELL My servants that they should speak in the most kindly manner [unto those who do not share their beliefs]: verily, Satan is always ready to stir up discord between men - for, verily, Satan is man's open foe! 53 Your Lord is fully aware of you. He may show you mercy if He will, or punish you if He will. We have not sent you as their guardian. 54 And thy Lord knows very well all who are in the heavens and the earth; and We have preferred some Prophets over others; and We gave to David Psalms. 55 Say thou: call upon those whom ye fancy beside Him; they are able neither to remove the distress from you nor to work a turning off. 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 There is no village except that it shall be destroyed or that We will punish it with a stern punishment before the Day of Resurrection. That is inscribed in the Book. 58 And nothing has prevented Us from sending signs except that the former peoples denied them. And We gave Thamud the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged her. And We send not the signs except as a warning. 59 And [remember, O Muhammad], when We told you, "Indeed, your Lord has encompassed the people." And We did not make the sight which We showed you except as a trial for the people, as was the accursed tree [mentioned] in the Qur'an. And We threaten them, but it increases them not except in great transgression. 60