“and if you call them to guidance”—that is, if you call the polytheists to Islam—“they will not follow you.” Nafi recited it with a single consonant rather than a doubled one; he likewise recited, “and the misguided follow them,” in Surat al-Shu'ara (verse 224). The other reciters read both with a doubled consonant. Both are valid forms in Arabic usage.

“It is all the same for you whether you call them” to the religion “or remain silent” and do not call them: they will not believe, just as He said: “It is the same for them whether you warn them or do not warn them—they will not believe” (al-Baqarah 6). It was also said that “if you call them to guidance” refers to the idols: they will not follow you because they are devoid of reason.

“Indeed, those whom you invoke besides Allah,” meaning the idols, “are servants like yourselves”; that is, they are owned beings like yourselves. It was also said: they are like you in being subjected and made subservient—that is, they are subdued and compelled to serve the purposes intended of them. Muqatil said that by “servants like yourselves” He meant the angels, and that the address was directed to a people who worshipped angels. The first view is sounder.

“So invoke them, and let them answer you, if you are truthful”—that they are gods. Ibn Abbas said: Worship them, then see whether they will reward or recompense you, if you are truthful in claiming that you can derive some benefit from them. He then made their incapacity clear, saying: “Do they have feet to walk with, or hands to strike with?”

“Do they have feet to walk with, or hands to strike with? Or do they have eyes to see with, or ears to hear with? Say: Call upon your partners, then plot against me and grant me no respite” (195).