Tafsir of Al Imran 3:21-22

(Indeed, those who disbelieve in the signs of Allah)—whatever sign it may be, and this includes the disbelievers in the signs that proclaim the truth of Islam as a primary inclusion. (And kill the prophets without right)—these are the People of the Book who were present in the era of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, for there is no meaning in warning those who have already passed. Al-Qutb said: Attributing the killing to them, even though they did not personally commit the murder, is for two reasons: First, because this method was the method of their ancestors, it is valid to attribute it to them, for the action of a father may be attributed to his son, especially if he is pleased with it. Second, the intention is that killing is of their nature, were there no obstacle preventing it. The restriction "without right" is for what has preceded. The particle Al (the) was omitted here—unlike what preceded—due to the difference in the departure point of the two sentences, and what is beneficial for you in this verse has already passed, so remember it.

Al-Hasan recited yaqtuluna al-nabiyyin (they kill the prophets). (And kill those who enjoin justice among the people)—meaning equity. Perhaps the repetition of the verb is to indicate the disparity between the two types of killing, or their difference in time. Ibn Jarir and Ibn Abi Hatim recorded from Abu Ubaidah ibn al-Jarrah that he said: I said, "O Messenger of Allah, which of the people will have the severest punishment on the Day of Resurrection?" He said, "A man who killed a prophet, or a man who enjoined good and forbade evil." Then he recited the verse. Then the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: "O Abu Ubaidah, the Children of Israel killed forty-three prophets at the beginning of the day in one hour. Then one hundred and seventy men from the worshippers of the Children of Israel stood up and enjoined those who killed them to do good and forbade them from evil, so they were all killed at the end of that same day. They are the ones Allah mentioned." Hamzah recited yuqatiluna (they fight), and Abdullah recited wa qatalu (and they killed), and Ubayy recited wa yaqtuluna al-nabiyyina wa alladhina ya’muruna (and they kill the prophets and those who enjoin…). (So give them tidings of a painful punishment.)

This is the predicate of Inna. The Fa (so) entered it because the noun contains the meaning of a condition, and a copyist (agent) that does not change the meaning of the initial subject does not prevent its entry; but when it does change it, it is prohibited by consensus. Sibawayh and al-Akhfash prohibit it in the case of a copyist absolutely, so the predicate according to them is His saying, (Those are the ones whose deeds have become worthless in this world and the Hereafter). The sentence "give them tidings" is a parenthetical clause with the Fa, as in your saying: "Zayd—so understand—is a righteous man." Grammarians have explicitly stated this regarding the saying: "So know, for the knowledge of a person benefits him, that everything decreed will surely come." And whoever does not understand this says: "The Fa is consequential, and its response is moved from its place to the beginning, and the estimation is: 'Zayd is a righteous man, and when we say that to you, then understand.'" According to the first view, it is an inauguration (start of a new sentence). (Those) is the subject, and the demonstrative pronoun it contains is—according to the popular opinion—to signify their remote standing in the hideousness of their situation. The relative clause is its predicate; meaning those characterized by those traits are the ones whose deeds have become null and have fallen out of the realm of consideration, devoid of fruit in this world—as their blood and wealth were not validated, nor did they earn praise or commendation thereby—and in the Hereafter, as it will not repel punishment from them, nor will they attain reward because of it. This includes deeds that are dependent on intention and others. Some people have argued that deeds not dependent on intention, such as charity or maintaining ties of kinship, benefit the disbeliever in the Hereafter and are not nullified by disbelief; thus, the "deeds" here refer to those of the first category. If it is intended to include both categories, one must commit to the fact that this ruling is specific to a group of disbelievers, namely those described by the aforementioned traits, but there is contemplation in that. (And they will have no helpers)—to assist them against the might and punishment of Allah in either of the two abodes. The plural "helpers" was used to observe what occurred in its counterpart, not to negate the plurality of helpers for each one of them. It may be argued that the arrival of the plural here is better than the singular because it is the end of a verse, and the intent of negating the "helpers" is to negate the benefits and advantages that result from help. If it is negated from the collective, its negation from an individual is even more appropriate. Furthermore, although this ruling is general for all disbelievers—as indicated by His saying: (And for the wrongdoers there are no helpers)—it has a specific place here, since these disbelievers were described as killing those who enjoin justice, who are the supporters of the truth as the Hadith points out, and there is no helper among them to stand between them and the killing of those noble ones. Therefore, they were met with a punishment from which they have no helper and no supporter.

Some have claimed that in the verse, there is a correspondence of three things to three things: disbelief to punishment, the killing of prophets to the worthlessness of deeds, and the killing of the enforcers [of justice] to the negation of helpers. And it is as you see.