And when they exceeded in ignorance, not being modest in their acknowledgment of it, relying solely on blind imitation after they had become bankrupt of any suspicion, let alone evidence, Allah, the Exalted, began to inform about His response by saying: ﴿He said﴾, meaning to alert them with the whip of reprimand that the speech with their forefathers is like the speech with them: ﴿Indeed, you were﴾. And He emphasized with His saying: ﴿You﴾ for the correctness of the conjunction, because the pronoun [the subject] connected is judged as part of the action. This is alongside the indication of the judgment on their outward and inward states ﴿and your forefathers﴾, meaning before you ﴿in misguidance﴾ that has surrounded you like the surrounding of the container by that which is contained and the path by which it is traveled ﴿clear﴾, in which there is no type of obscurity.