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 to the people who have cried lies to Our signs'; then We destroyed them utterly. 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 [remember how We punished the tribes of] Ad and Thamud and the people of Ar-Rass, and many generations [of sinners] in-between: 38 and unto each of them did We proffer lessons and each of them did We destroy with utter destruction. 39 They have surely passed by the village which was rained upon by evil rain (of stones); what, have they never seen it? No, they look for no resurrection. 40 Whenever they see you they only make a mockery of you -- "Is this the one God has sent as His Messenger? 41 “Possibly he would have misled us away from our Gods had we not been firm upon them”; soon they will know, when they see the punishment, who was astray from the path. 42 Did you see the one who chose his own desires as his God? So will you accept the responsibility of guarding him? 43 Do you think that most of them hear or understand? They are only like the cattle; nay, even worse than the cattle. 44