And we have put a barrier before them and a barrier behind them, and we have covered them so that they see not;
And it is all one to them whether thou warn them or warn them not: they will not believe.
Thou wilt only warn to good purpose him who followeth the monition and feareth the Merciful in secret: so tell him good tidings of forgiveness and a noble reward.
Verily it is we who quicken the dead, and write down the deeds they have sent before them and the vestiges they leave behind them; and everything do we set down in the plain Exemplar.
And frame for them a parable—the people of the town [of Antioch], when the Apostles came to it;
When we sent unto them two, and they called them liars; so we strengthened them with a third, and they said, “Verily we are sent unto you.”
The people said, “Ye are only men like us; and the Merciful hath not revealed aught; in sooth ye are only lying.”
They said, “Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you;
And there is naught laid upon us but to announce a plain message.”
The people said, “Of a truth we have drawn an evil augury from you: unless ye desist, we will surely stone you, and a painful punishment shall surely betide you from us.”