Al-Ankaboot (The Spider)

18. “And if you reject (the Message), so did generations before you and nothing is incumbent on the messenger but a plain delivery (of the message).”

The rejection of the opponents should not hinder the act of propagation.

In this verse, as a threat and also as heedlessness to them, Abraham (as) says:

“And if you reject (the Message), so did generations before you…”

And, of course, they were punished severely with a painful chastisement.

The verse continues saying:

“…and nothing is incumbent on the messenger but a plain delivery (of the message).” The objective of “generations before you” is the people of Noah and the nations who came to live after them.