﴿ وَهُمْ يَصْطَرِخُونَ فِيهَا رَبَّنَآ أَخْرِجْنَا نَعْمَلْ صَٰلِحًا غَيْرَ ٱلَّذِى كُنَّا نَعْمَلُ ۚ أَوَلَمْ نُعَمِّرْكُم مَّا يَتَذَكَّرُ فِيهِ مَن تَذَكَّرَ وَجَآءَكُمُ ٱلنَّذِيرُ ۖ فَذُوقُوا۟ فَمَا لِلظَّٰلِمِينَ مِن نَّصِيرٍ ﴾

“And in that [hell] they will cry aloud: “O our Sustainer! Cause us to come out [of this suffering]! We shall [henceforth] do good deeds, not such as we were wont to do [aforetime]!” [But We shall answer:] “Did We not grant you a life long enough so that whoever was willing to take thought could bethink himself? And [withal,] a war­ner had come unto you! Taste, then, [the fruit of your evil deeds]: for evildoers shall have none to succour them!””

In this verse, being given ‘the earth to inherit’ (khalifah) means that ‘after the decline of the previous nations, a new nation was settled on the earth in their place.’ It is the way by which God gives a nation the opportunity to settle and make progress on the earth. If the nation proves itself incapable, He replaces it by another nation. This process of the transfer of power shall continue right until Doomsday. The advancements in the present age have made it possible even to take photographs in the dark and make an apparently inaudible sound audible to the human ear. Such possibilities indicate that the Creator of this universe is a Being who knows the unknown and is aware of the secrets hidden in one’s heart. Man therefore, is accountable before the all-knowing and all-powerful God from whom no offence remains concealed.