لا يَستَطيعونَ نَصرَهُم وَهُم لَهُم جُندٌ مُحضَرونَ

[Yet] they cannot help them, and they are a host brought up before them.

EXEGESIS

Jundun (warriors) could refer metaphorically to the idols who are expected to defend their worshippers, and it could refer literally to the worshippers who usually defend their idols.

Muḥḍarūn (presented) indicates that either the false gods or the polytheist will be presented.^{‎[1]Mizan, 17/111.} The idols will be present in the hellfire to be used for punishing their worshippers. However, the linguistic probability is that these worshippers are present in this world as an army to defend their false gods.^{‎[2]Tibyan, 8/476.}

EXPOSITION

There are two plural pronouns in they are a host brought up before them. The first they refers to the polytheists who defend their gods, and the second them refers to their false gods. These gods cannot help their worshippers in any way, but their worshippers are like warriors who protect their gods in this world and are like an army led by their gods to hell in the next world.

They would be used to punish their worshippers as stones that fuel hellfire for them, beware the fire whose fuel will be humans and stones, prepared for the faithless (2:24). Indeed, you and what you worship besides Allah shall be fuel for hell, and you will come to it (21:98).^{‎[3]Mizan, 1/90.}

The word muḥḍarūn indicates being present under compulsion against their desire, like a person who is brought forth in front of a judge due to committing a crime, which is an indication of humiliation to the one who is brought forth.^{‎[4]Amthal, 14/241.}

INSIGHTS FROM HADITH

1. Imam al-Bāqir (a) said about this verse: ‘The idols cannot provide victory for them [polytheists], and they are an army present for their idols.’^{‎[5]Mizan, 12/117; Qummi, 2/217.}
2. Imam al-Ṣādiq (a) said: ‘Whoever performs deeds for [the sake of] the people, his reward will be [taken] from the people, and whoever performs it for [the sake of] God, his reward will be from God, and indeed every insincerity is polytheism.’^{‎[6]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 2/1017.}
3. The Messenger of God was crying one day, and when they asked him the reason, he said: ‘I have feared for my nation regarding polytheism; it is not that they would worship an idol, the sun, or the moon, but from doing their deeds to show off [to others] without sincerity.’^{‎[7]Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 2/1019.}

Note: Those who show off and lack sincerity to God in their deeds cannot be helped on the Day of Judgement by those for whom they performed their deeds and those they worshipped. Another observation is that being an apparent believer does not mean he would be free from polytheism.

REVIEW OF TAFSĪR LITERATURE

Ibn Abbas said: ‘The father [the uncle] of Abraham (a) would make idols and give them to his sons to sell, and he would give to Abraham (a) as well. So he (a) would call out and say: “Who would buy that which cannot harm him nor benefit him?” and when his brothers would return, they would have sold all their idols, and Abraham (a) would return without any sale, then he told his father [uncle]: Father! Why do you worship that which neither hears nor sees, and is of no avail to you in any way? [19:42].’^{‎[8]Suyuti, < http://www.islamicbook.ws/qbook/aldr-011.html >.}

INSIGHTS FROM OTHER TRADITIONS

1. All the makers of idols will be put to shame and disgraced; they will go off into disgrace together … Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save.^{‎[9]Isaiah 45:16, 18, 20.}
2. For the practices of the peoples are worthless; they cut a tree out of the forest, and a craftsman shapes it with his chisel. They adorn it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so it will not totter. Like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, their idols cannot speak; they must be carried because they cannot walk. Do not fear them; they can do no harm, nor can they do any good.
3. “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.”^{‎[10]Habakkuk 2:18-19.}
4. The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses. He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine. He cut down cedars or perhaps took a cypress or oak. He let it grow among the trees of the forest or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow. It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it. Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it, he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill. He also warms himself and says, “Ah! I am warm; I see the fire.” From the rest, he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships. He prays to it and says, “Save me! You are my God!” They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their minds closed so they cannot understand. No one stops to think; no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, “Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat, and I ate. Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left? Shall I bow down to a block of wood?” Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”^{‎[11]Isaiah 44:6, 8-20.}

[1] Mizan, 17/111.
[2] Tibyan, 8/476.
[3] Mizan, 1/90.
[4] Amthal, 14/241.
[5] Mizan, 12/117; Qummi, 2/217.
[6] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 2/1017.
[7] Muhammad Rayshahri, Mīzān al-Ḥikmah, 2/1019.
[8] Suyuti, < http://www.islamicbook.ws/qbook/aldr-011.html >.
[9] Isaiah 45:16, 18, 20.
[10] Habakkuk 2:18-19.
[11] Isaiah 44:6, 8-20.