(Before this,) We sent Moses The Book, and appointed his brother Aaron with him as minister; 35 Then We said, "Go together to the people who have denied Our signs." We utterly destroyed them! 36 And the people of Noah, when they cried lies to the Messengers, We drowned them, and made them to be a sign to mankind; and We have prepared for the evildoers a painful chastisement. 37 And the 'Aad and the Thamud and the dwellers of the Rass and many generations in-between. 38 for each We struck similitudes, and each We ruined utterly. 39 And they [who now deny Our messages] must surely have come across that town which was rained upon by a rain of evil: have they, then, never beheld it [with their minds eye]? But nay, they would not believe in resurrection! 40 Hence, whenever they consider thee, [O Muhammad,] they but make thee a target of their mockery, [saying:] "Is this the one whom God has sent as an apostle? 41 Well nigh he had led us astray from our gods if we had not persevered towards them. Presently they shall know, when they behold the torment, who is more astray in respect of path. 42 Hast thou observed him who hath taken as his god his own desire! wilt thou be over him a trustee? 43 Or do you think that most of them hear or reason? They are not except like livestock. Rather, they are [even] more astray in [their] way. 44