Has the story reached thee, of the honoured guests of Abraham? 24 When those [heavenly messengers] came unto him and bade him peace, he answered, "[And upon you be] peace!" - [saying to himself,] "They are strangers." 25 Then he went apart unto his housefolk so that they brought a fatted calf; 26 So he brought it near them. He said: What! will you not eat? 27 So he conceived in his mind a fear on account of them. They said: Fear not. And they gave him the good news of a boy possessing knowledge. 28 Then his wife came forward, crying and beating her brow. She said, "I am surely a barren, old woman." 29 They said: "Even so says your Lord. Verily, He is the All-Wise, the All-Knower." 30 ۞ Said [Abraham]: "And what [else] may you have in view, O you [heavenly] messengers?" 31 They said, "Indeed, we have been sent to a people of criminals 32 so that we bring down stones of clay upon them 33 which are marked by your Lord for the punishment of those guilty of excesses." 34 Then we brought forth such believers as were there. 35 – and We did not find there any, apart from a single house of Muslims – 36 And We have left there a sign (i.e. the place of the Dead Sea, well-known in Palestine) for those who fear the painful torment. 37 There is also evidence (of the Truth) in the story of Moses when We sent him to the Pharaoh with clear authority. 38 But he turned away with his supporters and said," A magician or a madman." 39 Then We seized him and his army and cast them all into the sea: he himself [Pharaoh] was to blame. 40 And in Aad. We let loose on them a withering wind 41 It spared nothing that it reached, but blew it into broken spreads of rotten ruins. 42 And in Thamud's also was a lesson, when it was said unto them: enjoy yourselves for a season. 43 But in their pride they turn away from the commandment of their Lord and the thunderbolt struck them whilst they were looking; 44 they could neither stand up straight, nor were they helped. 45 And [We destroyed] the people of Noah before; indeed, they were a people defiantly disobedient. 46