“and the people of Midian; and Moses too was denied,” up to His words:

“How many towns We have destroyed while they were committing wrong,” up to His words:

“Have they not travelled through the land, so that they may have hearts with which to understand or ears with which to hear?”

And His words:

“You pass by them in the morning,”

“and at night. Will you not then understand?”

And He said:

“Indeed, in that are signs for those who discern.”

He thus explained that He has left the remains of the punished peoples to be seen, so that they may serve as evidence of Allah’s punishment of them. And He, Most High, said:

“How many generations We have destroyed”—the two verses.

He therefore mentioned two ways by which this is known. The first is what is witnessed and understood by the heart. The second is what is heard. For the accounts of the prophets and those who believed them and denied them have become known to everyone through widespread transmission. People have also seen remains that show that He, glorified is He, punished those who denied the prophets and exacted retribution from them; that the prophets followed the truth which He loves and approves; that those who denied them followed falsehood whose adherents incur Allah’s wrath; and that obedience to the messengers is obedience to Allah, while disobedience to them is disobedience to Allah.

Another line of evidence is knowledge of their striking miracles and compelling signs, established through widespread transmission, and of the impossibility of a miracle occurring at the hands of someone falsely claiming prophethood without contradiction or conflict, as has been explained at length elsewhere.