And when He admonished them with His saying: "Is there for you any of what your right hands possess?" [Ar-Rum: 28] and connected it with what preceded, that it is at the utmost of connection, He turned to them, signaling a disregard for them, to the station of absence, distancing them from Him. He made clear to them these evidences and they continued in the danger of angering Him with His saying: "Or have We sent down upon them a clear authority?" meaning a clear, overpowering proof. "So it is" meaning that authority for the clarity of its statement "speaks" with a figurative speech in its indication and understanding, and it testifies "to what" meaning to the correctness of what "they were" meaning a firmly established existence "with it" meaning specifically "associating partners" to Him, such that they found no escape from following it to remove blame from themselves. And this expression indicates that they adhered to polytheism in a manner that made it a creation for them that does not cease.