Al-Kahf 18:55

Wama manaAAa annasa anyu/minoo ith jaahumu alhuda wayastaghfiroorabbahum illa an ta/tiyahum sunnatu al-awwaleena awya/tiyahumu alAAathabu qubula

And nothing has prevented the people from believing when guidance came to them and from asking forgiveness of their Lord except that there [must] befall them the [accustomed] precedent of the former peoples or that the punishment should come [directly] before them.

The only thing that prevented people from believing, even after the guidance had come to them, and from seeking forgiveness from their Lord, is (their demand) that what used to come to the earlier people should come to them as well, or that the punishment should visit them face to face.