Have you heard the story of Abraham's honoured guests? 24 When they came to him, they said: "Peace." He answered: "Peace." They were a people he did not recognise. 25 Then he turned quietly to his household, and brought forth a fat [roasted] calf, 26 He placed it before them. Then he said, "Why are you not eating?" 27 [And when he saw that the guests would not eat,] he became apprehensive of them; [but] they said, "Fear not" - and gave him the glad tiding of [the birth of] a son who would be endowed with deep knowledge. 28 But his wife came forward (laughing) aloud: she smote her forehead and said: "A barren old woman!" 29 They said, "This is true but your Lord has said, (that you will have a son); He is All-wise and All-knowing". 30 ۞ Abraham asked, "Messengers, what is your task?" 31 They replied, "We have been sent to a sinful people 32 That we may send down upon them stone of clay, 33 Marked, from before thy Lord, for the extravagant. 34 Then We evacuated those of the Believers who were there, 35 for apart from one [single] house We did not find there any who had surrendered themselves to Us. 36 We left therein evidence for those who fear the painful torment. 37 And in Moses (too, there is a portent) when We sent him unto Pharaoh with clear warrant, 38 But he turned his back, he and his courtiers, and said, "This is a sorcerer or a madman." 39 So We took him and his soldiers and cast them into the sea, and he was blameworthy. 40 And [you have the same message] in [what happened to the tribe of] Ad, when We let loose against them that life-destroying wind 41 It left nothing of what it came upon but that it made it like disintegrated ruins. 42 And in Thamud, when We said to them: "Enjoy yourselves for a while;" 43 But they brazenly disobeyed their Lord's command, and then a sudden chastisement overtook them while they looked on. 44 And they were unable to arise, nor could they defend themselves. 45 (So had We destroyed) the people of Noah before them: They were surely a sinful people. 46