8 Preface أَوَلَم يَتَفَكَّروا في أَنفُسِهِم ۗ ما خَلَقَ اللَّهُ السَّماواتِ وَالأَرضَ وَما بَينَهُما إِلّا بِالحَقِّ وَأَجَلٍ مُسَمًّى ۗ وَإِنَّ كَثيرًا مِنَ النّاسِ بِلِقاءِ رَبِّهِم لَكافِرونَYusuf AliDo they not reflect in their own minds? Not but for just ends1 and for a term appointed, did God create the heavens and the earth, and all between them: yet are there truly many among men who deny the meeting2 with their Lord (at the Resurrection)! Cf. 15:85. Here the argument is about the ebb and flow of worldly power, and the next clause is appropriately added, “and for a term appointed”. Let not any one who is granted worldly power or advantage run away with the notion that it is permanent. It is definitely limited in the high Purpose of God, which is just and true. And an account will have to be given of it afterwards on the basis of strict personal responsibility.It is therefore all the more strange that there should be men who not only forget themselves but even deny that there is a return to God or an End or Hereafter, when a full reckoning will be due for this period of probation. They are asked to study past history, as in the next verse.