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Those who denied Shu'ayb (alladhīna kadhdhabū Shu'ayban, this constitutes the subject [of the sentence], the predicate of which is [introduced by the following ka-an, 'as if']) - it is as if (ka-an, has been softened, its subject omitted, in other words [understand it as] ka-annahum) they had never dwelt, [never] had residence, there, in those dwelling-places of theirs; those who denied Shu'ayb, they were the losers (the emphasis effected by the repetition of the relative clause [alladhīna kadhdhabū Shu'ayban, 'those who denied Shu'ayb'] and what follows it is intended as a refutation of what they had said previously [sc. 'if you follow Shu'ayb, you shall indeed be losers']).