It is permissible for Allah to make the idols speak so that the argument and dispute may be valid. It is also permissible for this to occur between the sinners and the devils. The meaning of the criminals who misled them refers to their leaders and elders, as in His saying, 'Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our masters and our great ones, so they led us astray from the way.' And from Al-Suddi: the first ones whom we followed. And from Ibn Jurayj: Iblis and the son of Adam who killed, for he was the first to establish killing and various sins. 'So we have no intercessors,' as we see the believers have intercessors from the angels and the prophets, 'and no close friend,' as we see they have friends, for in the Hereafter, only the believers have true friends. As for the people of the Fire, there is enmity and hatred among them. Allah, the Exalted, said, 'The close friends, that Day, will be enemies to one another, except for the righteous.' Or: 'So we have no intercessors and no close friend from those whom we used to count as intercessors and friends,' because they believed in their idols as their intercessors with Allah, and they had friends among the devils of mankind. Or they meant that they fell into a destruction knowing that the intercessors and friends would not benefit them nor protect them, so they aimed by negating them to negate what relates to them of benefit, for what does not benefit is like that which is non-existent.

And 'close friend' is from concern, which is the concern that matters to you. Or it is from 'hama' meaning the special one, which is the special friend. If you say: Why is 'intercessor' mentioned in the plural and 'friend' in the singular? I say: Due to the abundance of intercessors in common practice and the scarcity of friends. [Mahamud said: 'The intercessor is mentioned in the plural and the friend in the singular due to the abundance of intercessors in common practice when a person faces a calamity, many from his town rise to intercede for him, out of mercy and duty, even if he is not well acquainted with most of them. As for the friend - who is the truthful one in his affection for you and cares for what concerns you - he is rarer than the eggs of the ostrich.'] [The phrase 'rarer than the eggs of the ostrich' in the dictionaries: the ostrich - on 'fa'ul' - is a bird, and it is the rukhama.] And some wise men were asked about a friend and said: 'A name without meaning.' And it is possible that he means by 'friend' the plural.

'Karrat' means returning to the world. Even in such a context, it is in the sense of wishing, as if it were said: 'If only we had a return.' This is due to the similarity in meaning between 'if only' and 'would that.' It is also possible that it is in its original form and the answer is omitted, which is: 'We would have done such and such.'