We have surely set forth in this Quran every ˹kind of˺ lesson for people, but humankind is the most argumentative of all beings.
18:54
And nothing prevents people from believing when guidance comes to them and from seeking their Lord’s forgiveness except ˹their demand˺ to meet the same fate of earlier deniers or that the torment would confront them face to face.
18:55
We do not send the messengers except as deliverers of good news and warners. But the disbelievers argue in falsehood, ˹hoping˺ to discredit the truth with it, and make a mockery of My revelations and warnings.
18:56
And who does more wrong than those who, when reminded of their Lord’s revelations, turn away from them and forget what their own hands have done? We have certainly cast veils over their hearts—leaving them unable to comprehend this ˹Quran˺—and deafness in their ears. And if you ˹O Prophet˺ invite them to ˹true˺ guidance, they will never be ˹rightly˺ guided.
18:57
Your Lord is the All-Forgiving, Full of Mercy. If He were to seize them ˹immediately˺ for what they commit, He would have certainly hastened their punishment. But they have an appointed time, from which they will find no refuge.
18:58
Those ˹are the˺ societies We destroyed when they persisted in wrong,1 and We had set a time for their destruction.
18:59
And ˹remember˺ when Moses said to his young assistant, “I will never give up until I reach the junction of the two seas, even if I travel for ages.”1
18:60
But when they ˹finally˺ reached the point where the seas met, they forgot their ˹salted˺ fish, and it made its way into the sea, slipping away ˹wondrously˺.
18:61