AND, INDEED, [long before Muhammad] We vouchsafed revelation unto Moses, and appointed his brother Aaron to help him to bear his burden; 35 And We command: "Go ye both, to the people who have rejected our Signs:" And those (people) We destroyed with utter destruction. 36 And the people of Noah,- when they rejected the messengers, We drowned them, and We made them as a Sign for mankind; and We have prepared for (all) wrong-doers a grievous Penalty;- 37 also to Aad and Thamood and the nation of ErRass and many generations in between; 38 And unto each! We propounded similitude thereunto; and each We ruined an utter ruin. 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 Indeed, he would well-nigh have led us astray from our deities, had we not been [so] steadfastly attached to them!" When they behold the punishment, they shall realize who strayed furthest from the right path. 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 deemest thou that most of them hear or understand? They are but as the cattle; nay, they are further astray from the way. 44