Whoever is in the heavens and whoever is in the earth refers to the rational beings who are distinguished, namely the angels and the two weights (humans and jinn). He specified them to indicate that if these beings are His and in His dominion, then they are all His servants. He, glorified and exalted is He, is their Lord, and none of them is suitable for lordship or to be a partner with Him in it. What is beyond them, which does not possess reason, is more deserving of not having a rival or partner. This indicates that whoever takes another as a lord, whether a king or a human, let alone an idol or something else, is in error, following what imitation has led him to and abandoning reflection. The meaning of: 'And what they follow are partners' is that they do not truly follow partners, even if they call them partners. This is because God's partnership in lordship is impossible. They follow only their assumption that they are partners, and they are only guessing and estimating that they could be partners, which is a false estimation. It is also possible that 'what they follow' is in the meaning of a question, meaning: and what thing do they follow? The word 'partners' in this case is in the accusative case, governed by 'they call.' In the first interpretation, it is governed by 'they follow.' It was appropriate. And what do those who call upon other than Allah follow as partners? So he limited it to one of them for indication. It is possible that 'what' is a relative pronoun, connected to 'who,' as if it were said: And for Allah are what those who call upon other than Him follow as partners, meaning: He has their partners. Ali ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him, read: 'You call,' with the 'ta' (ت), and the reasoning for it is that 'what they follow' is taken as a question, meaning: and what thing do those whom you call as partners follow from the angels and the prophets? This means that they follow Allah and obey Him. So why do you not do like their action? As His saying: 'Those are the ones who call upon, seeking a means to their Lord.' Then the speech shifted from addressing to speaking about them, saying: 'These polytheists follow nothing but assumption, and they do not follow what the angels and the prophets follow of the truth.'