It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbas (رضي الله عنه) said:

The people of Makkah asked the Prophet (ﷺ) to turn as-Safa into gold for them and to remove the mountains from around them so that they could cultivate (the land). It was said to him: If you want, you can be patient with them or if you want, you can give them what they asked for, but if they disbelieve, they will be destroyed as those who came before them were destroyed. He said: “Rather I shall be patient with them.” Then Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, revealed this verse: "And nothing stops Us from sending the Ayat (proofs, evidences, signs) but that the people of old denied them. And We sent the she-camel to Thamood as a clear sign"[al-Isra' 17:59].