And they have already come upon the town which was showered with a rain of evil [i.e., stones]. So have they not seen it? But they are not expecting resurrection.
Allah threatens the idolators who denied and opposed His Messenger Muhammad ﷺ and He warns them of the punishment and painful torment He sent upon the previous nations who rejected their Messengers. Allah begins by mentioning Musa, upon him be peace, whom He sent along with his brother Harun as a helper -- i.e., as another Prophet who helped and supported him -- but Fir`awn and his chiefs denied them both:
(Allah destroyed them completely, and similar (awaits) the disbelievers) (47:10). And when the people of Nuh denied him, Allah destroyed them likewise, for whoever denies one Messenger denies all the Messengers, because there is no difference between one Messenger and another. If it had so happened that Allah had sent all His Messengers to them, they would have denied them all. Allah says:
In the above verses it is mentioned that it had been the common practice of the people through the ages to rebuff the prophets and the message they had brought. In order to give weight to this assertion a few of the well known prophets are mentioned who were rejected by their people and then they were subjected to Allah's wrath and were annihilated completely. By drawing a parallel with the past generations it is elucidated that the pagans of Makkah would not listen to any reason as they were no better than the animals or even worse than that.
It is stated about the people of Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) that they had rejected the prophets, although they had neither seen the past prophets nor had they rejected them. at is actually meant here is that while denying Sayyidna Nuh (علیہ السلام) they had by implication rejected all the prophets, because the principals of religion expounded by all prophets are essentially the same. Hence rejection of one prophet is tantamount to rejection of all.
أَصْحَابَ الرَّسِّ (People of Rass - 25:38). In Arabic رَس (Rass) means unlined well. Neither Qur'an nor any authentic tradition describes these people in any detail. Whatever information is available about them is through Israelite traditions, which differ from one another. It is more likely that the remaining people of Thamud had settled down near a well. It is not mentioned in the Qur'an or any tradition as to how they were tormented. (Bayan u1-Qur'an)
Tazkirul Quran
Maulana Wahiduddin KhanOn ayahs 40–41
The names of many of the prophets to whom the Quran refers again and again do not find a place in the recorded history of humanity. This shows that the scholars who were their contemporaries did not attach any importance to them. They wrote zealously about kings and military heroes, because there was political colour in their lives, but they ignored the prophets, because there was nothing in their lives to feed their political tastes. Surprisingly, this attitude is prevalent even today. Those who attain prominence on the political platform, immediately find a place in the media. Those who work in non-political fields are not considered either mentionable or memorable. The most important thing required of a man is that he should learn lessons from events, but this is exactly what he fails to do. This is as true now as it was in the past.
Uthmani text of the Madinah mushaf (King Fahd Complex). Translation: Saheeh International. Tafsir via Quran.com.
![Surah Al-Furqan 25:40 in Arabic with its translation: “And they have already come upon the town which was showered with a rain of evil [i.e., stones]. So have they…”](/surah/al-furqan/40/image.jpg)