21Those who disbelieve in the verses of Allahu ta’ālā and slay (yaqtulūna, is also read as yuqātilūna, 'they fight against') the prophets without right, and slay those who enjoin to equity, to justice, and these are the Jews, who are reported to have killed forty three prophets and to have been forbidden this by a hundred and seventy devout worshippers among them, each of whom was killed immediately. So give them good tidings, let them know, of a painful chastisement. The use of 'good tidings' here is meant as a sarcastic ridicule of them (the fā' [of fa-bashshirhum, so give them good tidings] is considered part of the predicate of inna because its noun, that is, its relative clause, resembles a conditional [sc. in yakfurūna, 'if they disbelieve…', fa-bashshirhum, 'then, give them good tidings…']). |
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