And when following one who claims to be the wisest of people, the farthest from deficiencies, the most deeply rooted in high morals, and the most elevated above lowly matters leads to the greatest disgrace and the ugliest shame, and they, along with the knowledge of this which their deities are described with, act in associating partners with Him and in their fear and hope in them, which is the essence of ignorance; He repeated their rebuke for following them in another manner that is clearer than before in clarifying the deficiencies and warning of the faults, compelling them to acknowledge or declare their obstinacy or madness. He said, affirming: "Indeed, those whom you call upon," meaning: O polytheists, calling (p-195) in worship, being consistent with that, or that he has generalized the call to worship, indicating that the worship of one who does not have the capacity to be called upon is invalid, and the essence is that the call is consistent with the object of worship.

And when their calling upon them is merely a means of associating partners, He indicated their low rank by affirming the neighbor: "besides Allah," meaning: the One who possesses the attributes of perfection, greatness, and majesty. "Servants like you," meaning: in their inability to do anything, especially regarding what has occurred with the challenge of opposing the Qur'an and others, and you add to that with life and intellect, and the object of worship cannot be like the worshiper; how could it be if it is beneath him? And when they do not concede that they are like them, this caused their matter to be called upon to clarify the claim of similarity, rather inferiority. He said: "So call upon them," meaning: to something from the things.

And when the true God responds to His ally when challenged without failure, He indicated this by linking it with the letter 'fa' and said: "So let them respond to you," meaning: let them provide you with a clear response by bringing forth a chapter that resembles something from the Qur'an and in something from the benefits.

And when the situation required more reproach and incitement, he presented from it what you have seen. Then he increased in the incitement and said: "If you are" meaning: by nature and disposition "truthful" meaning: in the claim that they are deities, for the rank of a deity necessitates that. And Sa'id ibn Jubair read: "If" lightly and "servants like you" with the dal and lam in the accusative. The commentators agreed on interpreting it as that "if" is the negating one, which acted like the negating "ma" of Hijaz, thus it raised the subject and put the predicate in the accusative. There is a disagreement regarding its application in this manner. Al-Kisai and most of the Kufans permitted it, while from the Basrans, Ibn al-Sarraj, al-Farisi, and Ibn Jinni allowed it. Al-Farra and most of the Basrans prohibited it. There was a difference in transmission from Sibawayh and al-Mubarrid. The correct view is that its application is a language established in both poetry and prose. Abu Hayyan mentioned all of this and stated that he elaborated on it in his explanation of al-Tasheel. An objection was raised against this interpretation that it necessitates a contradiction to the well-known reading. This would only be acceptable if negation and affirmation were to pertain to the same thing, but the matter here is not like that. The affirmation is for their similarity to them in absolute inability, and the negation is for their equality to them in their exceeding her in force and such. Or the matter could be, as al-Zamakhshari said, that the affirmation is in a manner of concession and the negation is in reality.