أَمْ لَمْ يَعْرِفُوا رَسُولَهُمْ
Or did they not recognize their messenger? - Al-Mu'minun 23:69 ⧉.
One reason for their denial of the true faith could have been if the message was brought to them by an outsider who was a stranger to them and with whose character and antecedents they were unfamiliar. But this argument could not be invoked in the case of the Holy Prophet ﷺ who belonged to the noble family of Quraysh, was born in Makkah, grew up among them, and his whole life was like an open book before them: Before prophethood was bestowed upon him, he was known among the unbelievers of Makkah as اَمِین (trustworthy) and صَادِق (truthful) and nobody had ever raised an accusing finger on his character and general behavior. Thus they could not take the plea that their repudiation of the Holy Prophet ﷺ and of the message brought to him was due to their ignorance about him or about his family connections.