If they give the lie to you now, those that went before them also gave the lie to their Messengers when they came to them with Clear Proofs,1 with Scriptures, and with the Illuminating Book.2
Footnotes
[1]Qira’at: All except for ʻAsem, Nafieʻ, Yaʻqub and Abu Jaʻfar read it as: “. . . with bracelets of goldand(of) pearls . . .”
[2]
Frequently the Qur’an addresses the events of the hereafter in past tense; this grammatical shift should be pondered by the reader.
[3]
“Clear proofs”: Proofs which clearly testified that they were Allah’s Messengers.
[4]
“Scriptures” probably consisted of good counsels and moral precepts and “the Book” comprised a complete code of the law.