And His words: “Those whom you invoke besides Him do not own so much as a qiṭmīr, 13 if you call upon them they do not hear your supplication, and even if they were to hear, they could not respond to you. On the Day of Resurrection they will deny your association of them with Allah, and none can inform you like the All-Aware.” (Fāṭir 13–14)

Those you call upon besides Him: that is, those whom you invoke instead of Allah—angels, prophets, idols, and others.

qiṭmīr: the thin membrane that wraps the stone of a date.

do not hear your supplication: because they are either dead or, in the case of the angels, occupied with the tasks for which they were created.

could not respond to you: they lack the power to grant what you ask of them.

will deny your shirk: they will repudiate it and disavow anyone who associated them with Allah.

none can inform you: none can apprise you of the consequences and final outcome of matters

like the All-Aware: the One perfectly knowledgeable of them—Allah, exalted be He.

Overall meaning of the verse: Allah informs us about those who are invoked instead of Him—angels, prophets, idols, and the like—highlighting their impotence and frailty. The indispensable conditions for an object of invocation are: ownership of what is requested, hearing the supplication, and the ability to grant it. If even one of these conditions is missing, the object is unworthy of being called upon; how much more so when all of them are absent.

Relevance of the verse to this chapter: it contains a decisive proof for the invalidity of shirk and a refutation of the polytheists.