﴿ كَذَّبَتْ قَبْلَهُمْ قَوْمُ نُوحٍۢ وَٱلْأَحْزَابُ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۖ وَهَمَّتْ كُلُّ أُمَّةٍۭ بِرَسُولِهِمْ لِيَأْخُذُوهُ ۖ وَجَٰدَلُوا۟ بِٱلْبَٰطِلِ لِيُدْحِضُوا۟ بِهِ ٱلْحَقَّ فَأَخَذْتُهُمْ ۖ فَكَيْفَ كَانَ عِقَابِ ﴾

“to the truth gave the lie, before their time, the people of Noah and, after them, all those [others] who were leagued together [against God’s message-bearers]; and each of those com­munities schemed against the apostle sent unto them, aiming to lay hands on him; and they contended [against his message] with fallacious arguments, so as to render void the truth thereby: but then I took them to task - and how awesome was My retribution!”

The people of Noah denied before them and also the factions such as ‘Ād Thamūd and others who came after them. And every community sought to seize their messenger to slay him and they argued falsely thinking to rebut to eliminate thereby the truth. Then I seized them with punishment; so how fitting was My punishment! of them — in other words it was appropriate.