وَكَمْقَصَمْنَامِنقَرْيَةٍۢكَانَتْظَالِمَةًۭوَأَنشَأْنَابَعْدَهَاقَوْمًاءَاخَرِينَ١١

And how many a city which was unjust¹ have We shattered and produced after it another people.

And when they [i.e., its inhabitants] perceived Our punishment, at once they fled from it.

[Some angels said], "Do not flee but return to where you were given luxury and to your homes - perhaps you will be questioned."¹

They said, "O woe to us! Indeed, we were wrongdoers."

And that declaration of theirs did not cease until We made them [as] a harvest [mowed down], extinguished [like a fire].

And We did not create the heaven and earth and that between them in play.

Had We intended to take a diversion,¹ We could have taken it from [what is] with Us - if [indeed] We were to do so.

Rather, We dash the truth upon falsehood, and it destroys it,¹ and thereupon it departs. And for you is destruction from that which you describe.²

To Him belongs whoever is in the heavens and the earth. And those near Him [i.e., the angels] are not prevented by arrogance from His worship, nor do they tire.

They exalt [Him] night and day [and] do not slacken.

Or have they [i.e., men] taken for themselves gods from the earth who resurrect [the dead]?

Had there been within them [i.e., the heavens and earth] gods besides Allāh, they both would have been ruined. So exalted is Allāh, Lord of the Throne, above what they describe.

He is not questioned about what He does, but they will be questioned.

Or have they taken gods besides Him? Say, [O Muḥammad], "Produce your proof. This [Qur’ān] is the message for those with me and the message of those before me."¹ But most of them do not know the truth, so they are turning away.