54. For a detailed account see Towards Understanding the Qur'an, vol. III, al-A'raf 7, nn. 51-6, pp. 42-5.
55. Those whom the Makkan unbelievers associated with God in His divinity actually possessed none of the attributes and powers of God. There was, therefore, no grounds whatsoever for anyone to worship them. Some people had mistakenly taken them as their deities, and looked to those deities to answer their prayers and fulfil their needs.