(Before this,) We sent Moses The Book, and appointed his brother Aaron with him as minister; 35 And We said, "Go both of you to the people who have denied Our signs." Then We destroyed them with [complete] destruction. 36 And Noah's folk, when they denied the messengers, We drowned them and made of them a portent for mankind. We have prepared a painful doom for evil-doers. 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 We gave guidance and drove each to destruction. 39 Indeed they must have come upon the town on which an evil rain had poured down. Did they not see it? Yet they have no faith in the Resurrection. 40 When they see you they take you only in jest: "Is this the one whom God has sent as messenger? 41 He would have surely turned us away from our gods if we had not adhered to them." They will know soon who is farther away from the path when they see the punishment! 42 Hast thou ever considered [the kind of man] who makes his own desires his deity? Couldst thou, then, [O Prophet,] be held 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