For, how many a community that persisted in evildoing have We dashed into fragments, and raised another people in its stead! 11 When they found Our torment approaching them they started to run away from the town. 12 They were told, "Do not try to flee, but return to the comfort and luxuries in which you exulted and to the places where you lived, so that you may be questioned." 13 They said: woe unto us! verily we have been wrong-doers. 14 and this they kept repeating until We caused them to become like a field mowed down, and reduced to ashes. 15 And We created not the heaven and the earth and that which is in between in play. 16 [for,] had We willed to indulge in a pastime, We would indeed have produced it from within Ourselves - if such had been Our will at all! 17 Nay, We hurl the Truth at falsehood so that the Truth crushes falsehood, and lo! it vanishes. Woe to you for what you utter! 18 To Him belongs whosoever is in the heavens and the earth. Those who are with Him are not too proud to worship Him, nor are they ever wearied. 19 They exalt [Him] night and day [and] do not slacken. 20 Have they taken earthly gods who are such that they raise up the dead to life? 21 Had there been other deities in the heavens and the earth besides God, both the heavens and the earth would have been destroyed. God, the Lord of the Throne, is too Glorious to be as they think He is. 22 He shall not be questioned as to what He does, but they shall he questioned. 23 Have they taken other deities besides Him? Say to them, "Bring your proofs. This is the reminder of those who are with me and the reminder of those who were before me." But most of them do not know the truth, and so they turn away from it. 24 And We sent not before you any messenger except that We revealed to him that, "There is no deity except Me, so worship Me." 25 And yet they say: "Ar-Rahman has begotten a son." Too exalted is He! In fact, those (they call His sons) were His honoured votaries. 26 They do not precede Him in speech and (only) according to His commandment do they act. 27 He knows what is before them and what is behind them, and they cannot intercede without His permission. Indeed they themselves stand in 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