We granted not to any man before thee permanent life (here): if then thou shouldst die, would they live permanently?
wamaa ja‘alnaa libasyarin min qablika alkhulda ’afa’in mitta fahumu alkhaaliduuna
When the disbelievers said that Muhammad (s) would die the following was revealed And We did not assign to any human being before you immortality permanence of life in this world. What if you are fated to die will they be immortal? in it? No! The last sentence constitutes the syntactical locus of the interrogative of denial.