And when Our signs in other words in the Qur’ān are recited to such a one he turns away disdainfully as though he never heard them as though there were a deafness in his ears both comparisons constitute two circumstantial qualifiers referring to the subject of the verb wallā ‘turns away’; or it is that the second comparison is an explication of the first. So give him tidings of inform him of a painful chastisement. The use of the expression ‘good tidings’ meant derisively against such a person — this was al-Nadr b. al-Hārith. He used to visit al-Hīra for commerce and purchase books containing the stories of the non-Arab peoples and then recount these to the people of Mecca. He would say ‘Muhammad recounts to you the stories of ‘Ād and Thamūd whereas I relate to you the stories of the Persians and the Byzantines!’ They would thus go to enjoy his stories and neglect to listen to the Qur’ān.
