And when the one who argues is not following one of these three, but rather following his desires and imitating someone like him, certainly, the state of the arguers is astonishing due to the emergence of the proofs of oneness. He was astonished by them with another astonishment for their persistence in misguidance despite the clarity of the proofs. So he said: "And when it is said" meaning from any speaker. And since the misguidance of the group is more astonishing than the misguidance of an individual, and the astonishment from the argument of one is astonishment from the argument of two, he increased it from the first instance. He singled out the first and gathered here, so he said: "To them" meaning to the arguers of this argument: "Follow what" meaning exert your effort in following that which, and he clarified for the sake of increasing the reproach as well, so he said: "Allah has sent down" He who created you and created your forefathers, and He is the one who is great except for Him. They said (p-188) in stubbornness: We will not do it. "Rather, we will follow" even if we strive with our souls and wealth "what we found our forefathers upon" because they are more established in intellect than us, more eloquent in speech, and more guided in the way.

And when they do not follow a tangible path without proof, the estimation is: Will you follow them if the desire calls them to what you found them upon, to what is presumed to lead to destruction, due to it being without proof? So he added to it his saying: "Even if the devil" meaning the one far from mercy, consumed by the curse, and he is the most hostile of their enemies, is their guide. He is "calling them" to misguidance, causing them to fall into that which angers the Most Merciful, and that will lead them "to the punishment of the blazing fire." And he expressed the punishment in the present tense to depict their state in their misguidance and that it is ongoing, and he generalized the punishment due to it.