And when this is a necessity, and it is essential for every fair listener to hasten to submit to this decisive proof, which is His right to be singled out for worship due to His uniqueness in bestowing favors, the addressed became even more eager for their response. So it was answered by His saying: ﴿They said﴾, denying him and relying solely on mere imitation. ﴿Have you come to us﴾, meaning: from the one you claim to be His Messenger ﴿to worship Allah﴾, meaning: the Greatest King ﴿alone﴾. And since this was in their utmost amazement, which deserved denial, they followed it with what is like the reason for their denial of what he called them to. They said: ﴿And we will abandon﴾, meaning: we will leave without any good quality ﴿what our forefathers used to worship﴾, meaning: consistently engaged in its worship, as indicated by the use of (used to) and the present tense - with the indication of it portraying their forefathers in that state - to make it appear, in their opinion, that denying their opposition to them is justified.

And since the meaning of this denial is that we will not give you, and he had hinted to them to remember the people of Noah and his saying: ﴿Will you not fear﴾ [Al-Mu'minun: 23] to take heed if they insisted, they caused their saying: ﴿Then bring us﴾, meaning: quickly ﴿what you promise us﴾, meaning: of the punishment, as hinted by their gestures to the denial of his words: ﴿If you are among the truthful﴾, and their naming of the warning of punishment as a promise is from the perspective of mockery.