And when there was in what preceded in this Surah from the stories the most severe threat and the greatest warning for those who have insight, He made clear to the hard-hearted that the cause for their downfall is indeed oppression. So He, the Exalted, said, indicating that it should be said: We acted against them and informed you of it: "And We did not wrong them" in anything of it, "but they wronged themselves." They relied on their partners, turning away from Our side, feeling secure from Our punishment. So We seized them. "So what" means: as a result of their reliance on others than Us, that indeed "their gods did not avail them" in any way. "The gods that" they called upon, and their past state was depicted, so He said: "They call upon" meaning: they called upon it and continued in their calling upon it until the time of the seizing. [And He clarified the lowly status of it, saying]: "besides Allah" meaning: the One who has all attributes of perfection; and He mentioned the object of "did not avail" negated, saying: "in anything" meaning: even if it is little. "When the command" meaning: the punishment of "your Lord" meaning: the One who is good to you by delaying the punishment that would eradicate your people and made you the Prophet of mercy. "And they did not increase them" in their conditions that they had before their worship of it "except for loss" meaning: destruction and ruin, for they were among those whose success was hoped for. So when they became entangled in its worship and were caught up in its misguidance and strayed from the straight path due to its error, they lost themselves, which is their capital. So how could they have after that any profits? And the story is: following the trace, so here it is the informing of the matters that some of which follow one another; and the supplication is: the request of the seeker for an action from another, and the calling of something [by its name] with the particle of calling, and both matters are intended; and "besides Allah" is from a lower status than the status of the worship of Allah because it is from the lower ones, and it is closer to the direction of the low. And "the loss" is destruction and ruin.