۞ Sanction is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged; and Allah is indeed Able to give them victory; 39 they are those who have been driven out of their homes unjustly, only because they said, "Our Lord is God." If God did not repel the aggression of some people by means of others, cloisters and churches and synagogues and mosques, wherein the name of God is much invoked, would surely be destroyed. God will surely help him who helps His cause -- God is indeed powerful and mighty. 40 Those who, should We establish them in the land, will keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate and enjoin good and forbid evil; and Allah's is the end of affairs. 41 And if they deny you, [O Muhammad] - so, before them, did the people of Noah and 'Aad and Thamud deny [their prophets], 42 And (so did) the people of Ibrahim and the people of Lut. 43 Midian, and Moses had also called their Prophets liars. I gave respite to the unbelievers, then sized them with torment. How terrible was that torment! 44 How many a city have We destroyed, while it was a wrong-doer - and it lieth overturned on its roofs, and how many a well abandoned and how many a castle fortifred! 45 Have they not journeyed in the land that their hearts might understand and their ears might listen? For indeed it is not the eyes that are blinded; it is rather the hearts in the breasts that are rendered blind. 46 And [so, O Muhammad,] they challenge thee to hasten the coming upon them of [God's] chastisement: but God never fails to fulfill His promise - and behold, in thy Sustainer's sight a day is like a thousand years of your reckoning. 47 And how many a town to which I gave respite while it was unjust, then I overtook it, and to Me is the return. 48