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 wast not on the western side when We decreed the affair unto Musa, and thou wast not of the witnesses. 44 But We produced [many] generations [after Moses], and prolonged was their duration. And you were not a resident among the people of Madyan, reciting to them Our verses, but We were senders [of this message]. 45 you were not on the side of the Mount when We called out to Moses, but We have sent you as a mercy from your Lord, so that you may warn people to whom no warner has been sent before you, so that they may take heed, 46 And if (We had) not (sent you to the people of Makkah) in case a calamity should seize them for (the deeds) that their hands have sent forth, they should have said: "Our Lord! Why did You not send us a Messenger? We should then have followed Your Ayat (Verses of the Quran) and should have been among the believers." 47 But (now), when the Truth has come to them from Ourselves, they say, "Why are not (Signs) sent to him, like those which were sent to Moses?" Do they not then reject (the Signs) which were formerly sent to Moses? They say: "Two kinds of sorcery, each assisting the other!" And they say: "For us, we reject all (such things)!" 48 Say thou: then bring a Book from before Allah, that is better in guidance than these two, I shall follow it - if ye are truth-tellers. 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