Propound unto them, as an example, the inhabitants of the city _of Antioch_, when the apostles _of Jesus_ came unto it;[339] when We sent unto them two,[340] and they charged them with falsehood; wherefore We strengthened _them_ with a third;[341] and they said, Verily we are sent unto you. They replied, Ye are not [aught] save men like us, and the Compassionate hath not revealed anything: ye do nothing but lie. They said, Our Lord knoweth that we are indeed sent unto you; and naught is imposed on us but the delivering of a plain message, _shown to be true by manifest proofs, namely the cure of him who hath been born blind and of the leper and the sick, and the raising of the dead_. [The people of Antioch] said, Verily we presage evil from you; _for the rain is withheld from us on your account_: if ye desist not, we will assuredly stone you, and a painful punishment shall surely betide you from us. [The apostles] replied, Your evil luck is with you _because of your unbelief_. If ye have been warned, _will ye presage evil and disbelieve_? Nay, ye are an exorbitant people.—And there came from the furthest part of the city a man (_namely Ḥabeeb the carpenter, who had believed in the apostles_) running: he said, O my people, follow the apostles: follow those who ask not of you a recompense, and who are rightly directed. _And it was said unto him, Art thou of their religion? He replied_, And why should I not worship Him who hath created me, and unto whom ye shall be brought back _after death_? Shall I take deities beside Him? If the Compassionate be pleased to afflict me, their intercession will not avert from me aught, nor will they deliver. Verily, in that case (_if I worshipped aught but God_), I should be in a manifest error. Verily I believe in your Lord; therefore hear ye me.—_But they stoned him, and he died;[342] and_ it was said _unto him at his death_, Enter thou into Paradise. _And it is said that he entered it alive._ He said, O would that my people knew my Lord’s forgiveness of me and His having made me [one] of those who are honoured?—And We sent not down against his people after him (_that is, after his death_) an army _of angels_ from heaven _to destroy them_, nor were We sending down _angels to destroy any one_. It (_namely their punishment_) was naught but one cry _which Gabriel uttered against them_; and lo, they were extinct. (xxxvi. 12-28.)