And when our verses are recited to him, he turns away arrogantly as if he had not heard them, as if there was in his ears deafness. So give him tidings of a painful punishment.
Tafseer
{ وإذا تتلى عليه آياتنا } أي القرآن { ولَّى مستكبرا } متكبرا { كأن لم يسمعها كأن في أذنيه وقرا } صمما وجملتا التشبيه حالان من ضمير ولَّى أو الثانية بيان للأولى { فبشِّره } أعلمه { بعذاب أليم } مؤلم وذكر البشارة تهكم به وهو النضر بن الحارث، كان يأتي الحيرة يتجر فيشتري كتب أخبار الأعاجم ويحدث بها أهل مكة ويقول: إن محمدا يحدثكم أحاديث عاد وثمود، وأنا أحدثكم أحاديث فارس والروم فيستملحون حديثه ويتركون استماع القرآن.
{And when Our verses are recited to him} meaning the Qur’an {he turns away arrogantly} haughtily {as if he had not heard them, as if there was deafness in his ears} deafness. The two similes are two states of the pronoun “turn away,” or the second is an explanation of the first. {Then give him tidings} inform him {of a painful punishment} painful. And mentioning the tidings was to mock him. He was Al-Nadr ibn Al-Harith. He used to come to Al-Hirah to trade, so he would buy books about the history of the Persians and tell them to the people of Mecca, saying: Muhammad tells you stories of ‘Aad and Thamud, and I tell you stories of the Persians and the Romans. They would find his stories interesting and stop listening to the Qur’an.
