After We had destroyed the earlier generations We bestowed the Book on Moses - a source of enlightenment for people and a guidance and mercy -- that they may take heed. 43 And thou (Muhammad) wast not on the western side (of the Mount) when We expounded unto Moses the commandment, and thou wast not among those present; 44 nay, but [between them and thee] We brought into being [many] generations, and long was their span of life. And neither didst thou dwell among the people of Madyan, conveying Our messages unto them: nay, but We have [always] been sending [Our message-bearers unto man]. 45 Thou wast not upon the side of the Mount when We called; but for a mercy from thy Lord, that thou mayest warn a people to whom no warner came before thee, and that haply they may remember. 46 and not say, when evil befalls them on account of that which their hands forwarded: 'Our Lord, why did You not send a Messenger to us so that we might follow Your verses and so that we might be among the believers' 47 Yet when the truth came to them 'from Ourselves, they said, 'Why has he not been given the like' of that Moses was given?' But they, did they not disbelieve also in what Moses was given aforetime? They said, 'A pair of sorceries mutually supporting each other.' They said, 'We disbelieve both.' 48 Say (to them, O Muhammad SAW): "Then bring a Book from Allah, which is a better guide than these two [the Taurat (Torah) and the Quran], that I may follow it, if you are truthful." 49 If they do not respond to you, then know that they follow only their own desires. Who could be more astray than he who follows his own likes and dislikes with no guidance from God? God does not guide the evil-doers. 50