المختصر في التفسير

(9) Has there not reached you the news of those before you - the people of Noah and ʿAad and Thamūd and those after them? No one knows them [i.e., their number] but Allāh. Their messengers brought them clear proofs, but they returned their hands to their mouths[651] and said, "Indeed, we disbelieve in that with which you have been sent, and indeed we are, about that to which you invite us, in disquieting doubt."
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[651]- Several explanations have been given as to the meaning. Based upon the conclusion of the verse, Ibn Katheer preferred that this was a gesture of denial and rejection.