For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 And [every time,] as soon as they began to feel Our punishing might, lo! they tried to flee from it 12 Flee not, and return unto that wherein ye luxuriated and your habitations, haply ye will be questioned. 13 They said: O woe to us! surely we were unjust. 14 And this ceased not to be their cry till We made them cut off, extinct. 15 It was not in play that We created the heavens and the earth and all that lies between them. 16 Had We intended that We should choose a sport, surely We would choose it from before Us - if We were ever going to do that. 17 No, We hurl truth at falsehood, and it shall conquer it, and see, falsehood vanishes. Woe to you for all you have described. 18 Whosoever is in the heavens and the earth belongs to Him; and those who are near Him do not disdain to worship Him or weary (of His service), 19 they extol His limitless glory by night and by day, never flagging [therein]. 20 Or, have they taken earthly gods who revive the dead? 21 Had there been gods in heaven or earth, other than Allah, both would indeed have been ruined. Exalted be Allah, Lord of the Throne, above that they describe. 22 He is not to be questioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned. 23 Have they taken gods besides God? Say: "Then bring your proof. Here is the Book of those who are with me, and the Book of those who have gone before me." But most men do not know the truth and turn away. 24 We have not sent an apostle before you without instructing him that there is no god but I, so worship Me. 25 They say, "The All Merciful has taken a son!" Glory be to Him! They are only His honoured servants: 26 They did not precede Him in their speech, and acted on His command. 27 He knows all that lies open before them and all that is hidden from them: hence, they cannot intercede for any but those whom He has [already] graced with His goodly acceptance, since they themselves stand in reverent awe of Him. 28 ۞ And the one among them who says, “I am a God beside Allah” – We shall reward him with hell; this is how We punish the unjust. 29