The aim is to liken what they have taken as a reliance and dependence in their religion, and what they have turned to besides Allah, to something that is an example to people in terms of weakness and lack of strength. It is the web of the spider. Do you not see the part of the comparison, which is His saying: 'And indeed, the weakest of houses is the house of the spider'? If you say: What is the meaning of His saying: 'If they only knew,' and everyone knows the weakness of the house of the spider? I say: Its meaning is that if they only knew that this is their example and that the matter of their religion has reached this extreme of weakness. Another point is that if it is correct to liken what they rely on in their religion to the house of the spider, and it is established that the weakest of houses is the house of the spider, it has become clear that their religion is the weakest of religions if they only knew. Or the speech could be taken after correcting the comparison in a figurative sense, as if He said: 'And indeed, the weakest thing to rely on in religion is the worship of idols if they only knew.' One might say: The example of the polytheist who worships an idol compared to the believer who worships Allah is like a spider that makes a house, in relation to a man who builds a house with bricks and plaster or carves it from rock. Just as the weakest of houses, when you examine it house by house, is the house of the spider, likewise the weakest of religions, when you examine it religion by religion, is the worship of idols if they only knew. It has been read: 'You call upon,' with the letter 'ta' and 'ya.' This is an emphasis on the example and an addition to it, as it does not make what they call upon anything, while He is the Almighty, the All-Wise, in that it shows their ignorance for worshiping what is nothing, for it is an inanimate object that has no correct knowledge or power at all, and they have abandoned the worship of the Able, the Dominant over all things, the Wise who does nothing except with wisdom and planning.