'Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, says: "Indeed, messengers have come to you before me with clear signs and with that which you said. So why did you kill them if you were truthful?" [Aal 'Imran: 183] "And if they deny you, then messengers before you were denied. They came with clear signs, scriptures, and the enlightening Book." This is a response to them regarding their statement and a clarification of its invalidity. That is, messengers have come to you with astonishing signs, and among them is what you said regarding the offering. So why did you kill them, O Children of Israel? The meaning is: rather, this is an excuse and obstinacy from you. If I had brought you the offering, you would have made excuses for something else. The proposal has no end, and not every proposer is answered. Allah has not answered a proposer except that He intended to punish him and not give him respite, like the people of Salih and others. Likewise, it was said to Muhammad regarding the proposal of Quraysh, and he refused, saying: "Rather, I will call them and deal with them." Then Allah, the Exalted, comforted His Prophet with the example and model of the prophets who came before him, saying: so do not let that be great upon you. Ibn 'Amir read: "and with the scriptures" with the repetition of the preposition, and its omission in the reading of the majority is acceptable, because the conjunction 'and' suffices for the first preposition, thus the repetition of the preposition is not necessary. Its repetition is also acceptable for the sake of emphasis. Likewise, it has been established in the manuscripts of the people of Sham. It has also been narrated from Ibn 'Amir that he repeated the preposition in his saying: "and with the enlightening Book." "And the scriptures" refers to the written book. It is said: I wrote the book when I wrote it, and I read it when I read it. The evidence that it refers to the book is the saying of Imru' al-Qais: "To whom is the trace that I saw, so it saddened me like the lines of a scripture in the branches of Yemen?" Al-Zajjaj said: I wrote means I wrote, and I read with a dhāl means I read. "The enlightening" is in the form of muf'il from light, meaning its light shone.