And when this desire was understood from them, he began to dissuade them from it by means of questioning, which does not allow for a fair response regarding attributes that would compel them to acknowledge its absence from them. Every rational person knows, if he reflects, that the rank of divinity is not valid with the absence of even one of its attributes. So how could it be valid with the absence of all of them? So Allah, the Most High, said, informing about it: ﴿He said﴾ expressing it fairly in a way that expresses the rational ones, to place it in their proper status: (p-49) ﴿Do they hear you﴾ meaning: your supplication merely as hearing; then He depicted their state to prevent them from thinking about it. He said, expressing with a past circumstance and a present verb, alerting them to recall all of time so that this would be more effective in reproaching: ﴿When you call﴾ meaning: recall your conditions with them from the beginning of your worship of them until now: Did they hear you at any time? So that this would be a reason for you to hope for some benefit from them at some time.