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 said, "Go you both unto the people who have given the lie to Our messages!" - and thereupon We broke those [sinners] to smithereens. 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 to 'Ad, and Thamud, and the people of al-Rass, and as We did for the many a generation between them. 38 We administered warnings to each of them, and then destroyed them completely. 39 They must have surely passed by the town on which We had rained the terrible rain of ruin. How could they not have seen it? Still they do not dread the Resurrection. 40 And when they behold thee, they hold thee up for mockery: is this the one whom Allah hath sent as an apostle 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 Have you seen him who has taken his own desire to be his god? Can you be a guardian over him? 43 Or deemest thou that most of them hear or understand? They are but like unto the cattle; nay, they are even farther astray from the path. 44