And We did not give them books that they study in which there is proof of the validity of polytheism, nor did We send to them a warner warning them of punishment if they did not associate partners with Allah. As He, glorified and exalted is He, said: 'Or have We sent down upon them a sultan, so he speaks of what they used to associate?' Or He described them as an unlettered people, the people of ignorance, having no religion and no covenant with the sending down of a book or the mission of a messenger, as He said: 'Or have We given them a book before it, so they are holding fast to it?' So there is no basis for their denial, nor any doubt to cling to, as the people of the Book say, even if they are false: 'We are the people of books and laws, and we are supported by messengers from Allah.' Then He warned them for their denial with His saying: 'And those who denied before them from the nations and the past generations denied as they denied.' And what these have attained is not even a fraction of what We gave those in terms of long lives, strength of bodies, and abundance of wealth. So when they denied their messengers, Our denial came to them with destruction and extermination, and their support did not avail them, nor did what they relied upon help them. So what about these? And it was read: 'yadrusoonaha,' from teaching, which is the repetition of the lesson. Or from teaching the book, and teaching books: and 'yudarrisoonaha,' with a doubled د: they are doing it as an act of teaching. And the one-tenth is like the one-fourth, and they are: the tenth and the quarter. If you say: What is the meaning of 'So they denied My messengers,' which is redundant with His saying: 'And those before them denied'? I say: Since the meaning of His saying: 'And those before them denied' is that those before them acted upon denial and advanced in it, the denial of the messengers was made a consequence of it. An analogy is that someone might say: 'So-and-so advanced in disbelief and disbelieved in Muhammad, blessings and peace be upon him.' And it is possible to connect it to His saying: 'And what they attained,' as in your saying: 'What Zaid attained is a fraction of the virtue of Amr, so he excelled him.' 'So how was My denial?' meaning for the first deniers, so let them beware of something like it.