(Before this,) We sent Moses The Book, and appointed his brother Aaron with him as minister; 35 Then We told them: "Go to the people who have rejected Our signs." Then We annihilated them completely. 36 We drowned the people of Noah also when they rejected their messengers and We made them an example to all mankind. We have prepared a painful punishment for the wrongdoers, 37 And [We destroyed] 'Aad and Thamud and the companions of the well and many generations between them. 38 We admonished each one of them by citing the examples (of those who were destroyed before them) and ultimately annihilated all of them. 39 And they have already come upon the town which was showered with a rain of evil. So have they not seen it? But they are not expecting resurrection. 40 Hence, whenever they consider thee, [O Muhammad,] they but make thee a target of their mockery, [saying:] "Is this the one whom God has sent as an apostle? 41 He had well-nigh led us astray from our gods had we not adhered to them patiently! And they will know, when they see the punishment, who is straying farther off from the path. 42 Seest thou such a one as taketh for his god his own passion (or impulse)? Couldst thou be a disposer of affairs for him? 43 Or deemest thou that most of them hear or understand? They are but as the cattle - nay, but they are farther astray? 44