AND, INDEED, [long before Muhammad] We vouchsafed revelation unto Moses, and appointed his brother Aaron to help him to bear his burden; 35 and We said, "Go you both unto the people who have given the lie to Our messages!" - and thereupon We broke those [sinners] to smithereens. 36 And Nuh's (Noah) people, when they denied the Messengers We drowned them, and We made them as a sign for mankind. And We have prepared a painful torment for the Zalimun (polytheists and wrong-doers, etc). 37 And the tribes of A’ad and the Thamud, and the people of the Wells, and many a generation between them. 38 And for each We presented examples [as warnings], and each We destroyed with [total] destruction. 39 And the (Unbelievers) must indeed have passed by the town on which was rained a shower of evil: did they not then see it (with their own eyes)? But they fear not the Resurrection. 40 And when they see thee, they take thee in mockery only: 'What, is this he whom God sent forth as a Messenger? 41 Indeed, he would well-nigh have led us astray from our deities, had we not been [so] steadfastly attached to them!" When they behold the punishment, they shall realize who strayed furthest from the right path. 42 Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him? 43 Or do you think that most of them do hear or understand? They are nothing but as cattle; nay, they are straying farther off from the path. 44