﴿ أَلَمْ يَأْتِكُمْ نَبَؤُا۟ ٱلَّذِينَ مِن قَبْلِكُمْ قَوْمِ نُوحٍۢ وَعَادٍۢ وَثَمُودَ ۛ وَٱلَّذِينَ مِنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۛ لَا يَعْلَمُهُمْ إِلَّا ٱللَّهُ ۚ جَآءَتْهُمْ رُسُلُهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَٰتِ فَرَدُّوٓا۟ أَيْدِيَهُمْ فِىٓ أَفْوَٰهِهِمْ وَقَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّا كَفَرْنَا بِمَآ أُرْسِلْتُم بِهِۦ وَإِنَّا لَفِى شَكٍّۢ مِّمَّا تَدْعُونَنَآ إِلَيْهِ مُرِيبٍۢ ﴾

“HAVE THE STORIES of those [deniers of the truth] who lived before you never yet come within your ken - [the stories of] the people of Noah, and of [the tribes of] `Ad and Thamud, and of those who came after them? None knows them [now] save God. There came unto them their apostles with all evidence of the truth -but they covered their mouths with their hands and answered: "Behold, we refuse to regard as true the message with which you [claim to] have been entrusted; and, behold, we are in grave doubt, amounting to suspicion, about [the meaning of] your call to us!"”

(Has not the history) the news (of those before you reached you) O people of Mecca: (the folk of Noah. and (the tribes of) 'Aad and Thamud) i.e. the people of Salih, (and those after them) after the folk of Salih, i.e. the people of Shu'ayb and others: how Allah destroyed them when they disbelieved in Him? (None save Allah knoweth them) none knows their numbers or their punishment save Allah. (Their messengers came unto them with clear proofs) they came to them with commands, prohibitions and signs, (but they thrust their hands into their mouths) He says: they rejected what the messengers brought to them; it is also said that this means: they thrust their hands into their mouths, as if saying: be quiet or we will silence you, (and said) to the messengers: (Lo! we disbelieve) we reject (in that wherewith ye have been sent) of Scripture and monotheism, (and lo! we are in grave doubt) in manifest doubt (concerning that to which ye call us) of Scripture and monotheism.