is the most misguided of all, and that supplication is an act of worship; therefore, whoever directs it to anyone other than Allah is a polytheist.

Lessons derived from the two verses:

1. Supplication is worship; hence whoever calls upon anyone besides Allah has fallen into major polytheism.
2. They lay bare the wretchedness of those who invoke others instead of Allah in both this world and the Hereafter.
3. Polytheism is the gravest form of misguidance.
4. The verses affirm resurrection, the gathering of mankind, and the final recompense.
5. Idols neither hear those who call upon them nor respond, contrary to what the polytheists imagine.
6. Worshipping Allah alone brings good in this world and the next.