Āl ʿImrān 3:156-158

Yā ayyuha'lladhīna āmanū lā takūnū ka'lladhīna kafarū wa qālū li-ikhwānihim idhā ḍarabū fi'l-arḍi aw kānū ghuzzan law kānū ʿindanā mā mātū wa mā qutilū, li-yajʿala'llāhu dhālika ḥasratan fī qulūbihim, wa'llāhu yuḥyī wa yumīt, wa'llāhu bimā taʿmalūna baṣīr · Wa la-in qutiltum fī sabīli'llāhi aw muttum la-maghfiratun mina'llāhi wa raḥmatun khayrun mimmā yajmaʿūn · Wa la-in muttum aw qutiltum la-ila'llāhi tuḥsharūn

"You who believe! Do not be like those who deny and who say of their brothers who travelled in the land or went out to fight: 'Had they been with us they would not have died and would not have been killed' — that God may make this a regret in their hearts. It is God who gives life and gives death… · If you are killed in the way of God, or die, a forgiveness and a mercy from God are better than all they gather. · Whether you die or are killed, it is to God that you will be gathered."

Law kānū ʿindanā mā mātū wa mā qutilū — "had they been with us they would not have died and would not have been killed".

And the saying binds two things together: the place one is in, and death.

And its refutation is inside the verse, and it has two steps:

And the first step is striking. I record this as an observation about the word order: the verse does not first refute the saying logically; it says what it does to the one who says it. Ḥasra — the burning felt over what has been missed. That is, the sentence of "if only" produces a burning instead of giving consolation.

And its logical refutation had already been set up at verse 145: wa mā kāna li-nafsin an tamūta illā bi-idhni'llāhi kitāban muʾajjalā. Two verses, eleven verses apart, take up the same matter from two directions: one the rule, the other the outcome of the saying.

And the same saying will come once more at verse 168, in another mouth: law aṭāʿūnā mā qutilū. Two occurrences, in a single block. This is a repetition verifiable within the sūra.

And the ends of the two verses differ as well:

I record this as an observation about the word order: the two verses give the same two verbs in reverse order, and one states the recompense, the other the destination. And the reversed order shows that the two sentences are not the same as each other.