Audio discussion of the summary link;

https://notebooklm.google.com/notebook/84481993-f0e3-4db9-bf18-49edae4c399d/audio

وَيَوۡمَ يَحۡشُرُهُمۡ وَمَا يَعۡبُدُوۡنَ مِنۡ دُوۡنِ اللّٰهِ فَيَقُوۡلُ ءَاَنۡـتُمۡ اَضۡلَلۡـتُمۡ عِبَادِىۡ هٰٓؤُلَاۤءِ اَمۡ هُمۡ ضَلُّوا السَّبِيۡلَ ؕ‏ ﴿25:17﴾قَالُوۡا سُبۡحٰنَكَ مَا كَانَ يَنۢۡبَغِىۡ لَنَاۤ اَنۡ نَّـتَّخِذَ مِنۡ دُوۡنِكَ مِنۡ اَوۡلِيَآءَ وَ لٰـكِنۡ مَّتَّعۡتَهُمۡ وَاٰبَآءَهُمۡ حَتّٰى نَسُوا الذِّكۡرَ​ۚ وَكَانُوۡا قَوۡمًۢا بُوۡرًا‏ ﴿25:18﴾ فَقَدۡ كَذَّبُوۡكُمۡ بِمَا تَقُوۡلُوۡنَۙ فَمَا تَسۡتَطِيۡعُوۡنَ صَرۡفًا وَّلَا نَـصۡرًا​ۚ وَمَنۡ يَّظۡلِمۡ مِّنۡكُمۡ نُذِقۡهُ عَذَابًا كَبِيۡرًا‏ ﴿25:19﴾ وَمَاۤ اَرۡسَلۡنَا قَبۡلَكَ مِنَ الۡمُرۡسَلِيۡنَ اِلَّاۤ اِنَّهُمۡ لَيَاۡكُلُوۡنَ الطَّعَامَ وَيَمۡشُوۡنَ فِى الۡاَسۡوَاقِ​ ؕ وَجَعَلۡنَا بَعۡضَكُمۡ لِبَعۡضٍ فِتۡنَةً  ؕ اَتَصۡبِرُوۡنَ​ۚ وَكَانَ رَبُّكَ بَصِيۡرًا‏ ﴿25:20﴾

(25:17) On the Day when He will muster together all the unbelievers as well as the deities that they worship beside Allah,²⁴ and He will ask them: “Was it you who caused these servants of Mine to stray away, or did they themselves stray away from the Right Path?”²⁵(25:18) They will say: “Glory be to You! It did not behove us to take any other than You as our guardians, but You lavished the pleasures of life upon them and their forefathers until they forgot the Admonition and became doomed to destruction.”²⁶ (25:19) Thus will those deities give the lie to all what you now say,²⁷ and you will not be able to avert your doom, nor obtain any succour. We shall cause whoever of you commits wrong²⁸ to taste an enormous chastisement. (25:20) (O Muhammad), We never sent any Messengers before you but they ate food and walked about in the markets.²⁹ We made some of you a means to test each by the other³⁰ to see whether you remain patient.³¹Your Lord is All-Seeing.³² 

---

Notes

24. Here, deities do not mean idols but the angels, the prophets; the saints, the martyrs and the pious men, whom the mushriks of different communities have made their deities. 

25. Such dialogues between Allah and the gods of the disbelievers occur at several places in the Quran. For instance, in Surah Saba it has been stated: On the day when He will gather them all together, He will ask the angels, Did these people worship you? They will answer, Glory be to Thee! Thou art our Patron and not they: they in fact worshiped the jinns (that is, satans); most of these believed in them. (verses 40-41). Similarly in Surah Al- Maidah, it is said: And when Allah will say, O Jesus, son of Mary, did you ever say to the people: Make me and my mother gods instead of Allah? He will answer, Glory be to Thee! It did not behoove me to say that which I had no right to say. I told them only that which Thou didst bid me: Worship Allah, Who is my Lord as well as your Lord. (verses. 116, 117). 

26. That is, they were mean people: You gave them all the provisions of life so that they may show gratitude to You, but they became ungrateful and ignored all the admonitions given by the Prophets. 

27. That is, on that day your religion, which you now believe, to be true, will prove to be false and even your gods, whom you yourselves have set up, will declare it to be a lie; for none of them ever asked you to make them your deities and worship them as such. Consequently, instead of interceding on your behalf; they will bear witness against you. 

28. They will be guilty of iniquity. They will be unjust to the reality and the truth and guilty of disbelief and shirk. The context shows that those who reject the Prophet (peace be upon him) and set up other deities instead of Allah and deny life in the Hereafter, are guilty of zulm (iniquity). 

29. This is an answer to the objection of the disbelievers of Makkah that Muhammad (peace be upon him) could not be a Messenger of Allah because he ate food and moved about in the streets. They have been told that all the Messengers of Allah who came before Muhammad, like Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Moses and many others (peace be upon them all) whom they knew and acknowledged as Prophets and Messengers of Allah also ate food and walked about in the streets. Nay, even Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him), son of Mary, himself, whom the Christians had made the son of God (and whose image had also been placed in the Kabah by the disbelievers of Makkah) ate food and walked about in the streets like a common man even according to the Gospels themselves. 

30. It is obvious that the Messenger and the believers were a test for the disbelievers as to whether they would believe even after hearing the divine message and seeing their pure character. On the other hand, the disbelievers were a test for the Messenger and his followers in the sense that they were a means of proving and trying their true faith by their persecution. For it is this test alone which helps to discriminate the true believers from the hypocrites. That is why, at first, only the poor and the helpless but sincere people embraced Islam. Had there been no persecution and hardships but prosperity, wealth and grandeur, the worshipers of the world and the selfish people would have been the first to embrace Islam. 

31. That is, now when you have understood the wisdom of the test by persecution, it is hoped that you will endure all kinds of hardships without complaint, and willingly undergo the persecutions that are inevitable. 

32. It probably means two things: First, the way your Lord is conducting your affairs, is according to His will and nothing that happens is without His knowledge. Second: He is fully aware of your sincerity and righteousness in serving His cause under all kinds of hardships. You should therefore rest assured that you will have your full reward. He also sees the persecution and iniquity of the disbelievers; therefore they will not escape the consequences of their wickedness.