When he said to his father and his people, 'What are these images to which you are devoted?' [This is a reference to the fact that his saying was by Our permission and pleasure. We supported him - he alone - against all his people. If it had not pleased Us, We would have prevented him from being supported by his people against him and from the fire being enabled over him. This is similar to what has been mentioned in his saying, 'My Lord knows the saying in the heavens and the earth.' The understanding of this condition does not harm, as it does not encompass what it negates from the spoken words. If you wish, you can connect it to 'Our signs.' Then he mentioned the saying in his words, denying them and belittling their idols in a manner of ignorance to prove their claim of ignorance with evidence: 'What are these images?' That is, the figures you have made, resembling that which has a soul, making what can only belong to one who has no equal. These are the idols 'that you are devoted to,' meaning for their sake alone, despite the abundance of what resembles them and what is better than them. 'Devoted' means that you are consistently turning towards them and persevering in that. By what meaning have they deserved this specialization from you? They are merely a representation of the living in form, and He is superior to them with the life that Allah has bestowed upon Him.