45 And when thou recitest the Qur’ān, We place between thee and those who believe not in the Hereafter a hidden barrier;

46 And We put coverings on their hearts and a deafness in their ears lest they understand it; and when thou makest mention of thy Lord alone in the Qur’ān, they turn their backs in aversion.

47 We know best what they listen to when they listen to thee, and when they take counsel secretly, when the wrongdoers say: You follow only a man deprived of reason.

48 See, what they liken thee to! So they have gone astray, and cannot find the way.

49 And they say: When we are bones and decayed particles, shall we then be raised up as a new creation?

50 Say: Be stones or iron,

51 Or some other creature of those which are too hard (to receive life) in your minds! But they will say: Who will return us? Say: He Who created you at first. Still they will shake their heads at thee and say: When will it be? Say: Maybe it has drawn nigh.

52 On the day when He will call you forth, then will you obey Him, giving Him praise, and you will think that you tarried but a little (while).

53 And say to My servants that they speak what is best. Surely the devil sows dissensions among them. The devil is surely an open enemy to man.

54 Your Lord knows you best. He will have mercy on you, if He please, or He will chastise you, if He please. And We have not sent thee as being in charge of them.

55 And thy Lord best knows those who are in the heavens and the earth. And certainly We made some of the prophets to excel others, and to David We gave the Zabūr.

56 Say: Call on those whom you assert besides Him; they have no power to remove distress from you nor to change.

57 Those whom they call upon, themselves seek the means of access to their Lord — whoever of them is nearest — and they hope for His