Fatir: (4) "And if they deny you, then..."

"And if they deny you, then messengers before you were denied" — this is a consolation to him, peace and blessings be upon him, through the universality of the affliction, a promise to him, and a threat to his enemies. The meaning is: If they persist in denying you regarding the manifest truth you have conveyed to them after you have established the proof against them and silenced them, then take example from those messengers in patience, for their people denied them, and they remained patient.

The sentence "messengers before you were denied" stands in the place of the conditional response (jawab al-shart). In reality, the response is "take example," but that sentence was put in its place, as mentioning the cause is sufficient to imply the effect. It is also permissible to consider the sentence itself as the response without needing an implied verb; thus, the consequence of the condition is the notification and information, as in His, the Exalted’s, saying: "And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah."

The use of the indefinite form for "messengers" (rusul) is for the purpose of magnification and multiplication, which necessitate greater consolation and encourage following their example and exercising patience regarding what befell him—peace and blessings be upon him—from his people. That is, messengers of high status and great number [were also denied].

"And to Allah [all] matters are returned" — not to anyone else, Mighty and Majestic is He. He, the Glorified, will recompense both you and them with what is appropriate for each. In the restriction of the return to Him, the Exalted, while leaving the nature of the recompense—whether reward or punishment—ambiguous, there is a degree of hyperbole in the promise and the threat that is not hidden. It has been recited as tarji‘u (with a fatha on the ta), from ruju‘ (returning), but the former [recitation turja‘u] is more profound in evoking awe.