And this ceased not to be their cry, until we made them like reaped corn, extinct. We created not the heaven and the earth, and what is between them, for sport: Had it been our wish to find a pastime, we had surely found it in ourselves;- if to do so had been our will. Nay, we will hurl the truth at falsehood, and it shall smite it, and lo! it shall vanish. But woe be to you for what ye utter of God! All beings in the heaven and on the earth are His: and they who are in his presence disdain not his service, neither are they wearied: They praise Him night and day: they rest not.3 Have they taken gods from the earth who can quicken the dead? Had there been in either heaven or earth gods besides God, both surely had gone to ruin. But glory be to God, the Lord of the throne, beyond what they utter! He shall not be asked of his doings, but they shall be asked. Have they taken other gods beside Him? SAY; Bring forth your proofs that they are gods. This is the warning of those who are with me, and the warning of those who were before me: but most of them know not the truth, and turn aside. No apostle have we sent before thee to whom we did not reveal that "Verily there is no God beside me: therefore worship me." Yet they say, "The God of Mercy hath begotten issue from the angels." Glory be to Him! Nay, they are but His honoured servants: They speak not till He hath spoken;4 and they do His bidding. He knoweth what is before them and what is behind them; and no plea shall they offer Save for whom He pleaseth; and they tremble for fear of Him. And that angel among them who saith "I am a god beside Him," will we recompense with hell: in such sort will we recompense the offenders. Do not the infidels see that the heavens and the earth were both a solid mass, and that we clave them asunder, and that by means of water we give life to everything? Will they not then believe? And we set mountains on the earth lest it should move with them, and we made on it broad passages between them as routes for their guidance; And we made the heaven a roof strongly upholden; yet turn they away from its signs. And He it is who hath created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon, each moving swiftly in its sphere. At no time5 have we granted to man a life that shall last for ever: if thou then die, shall they live for ever? Every soul shall taste of death:6 and for trial will we prove you with evil and with good; and unto Us shall ye be brought back. And when the infidels see thee they receive thee only with scoffs:-"What! is this he who maketh such mention of your gods?" Yet when mention is made to them of the God of Mercy, they believe not. "Man," say they, "is made up of haste."7 But I will shew you my signs:8 desire them not then to be hastened. They say, "When will this threat be made good? Tell us, if ye be men of truth?"