﴿ أَمْ لَهُمْ ءَالِهَةٌۭ تَمْنَعُهُم مِّن دُونِنَا ۚ لَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ نَصْرَ أَنفُسِهِمْ وَلَا هُم مِّنَّا يُصْحَبُونَ ﴾

“Do they [really think that they] have deities that could shield them from Us? Those [alleged dei­ties] are not [even] able to succour themselves: hence, neither can they [who worship them hope to] be aided [by them] against Us.”

Or is it that they have am ‘or’ functions with the sense of a hamza used to indicate denial that is read it as a-lahum ‘do they have’ gods to defend them against that which might cause them harm besides Us? In other words do they have anyone other than Us to defend them against such things? No! They namely the gods cannot help themselves and so they will not be able to help them; nor shall they the disbelievers be protected from Us from Our chastisement one may say sahibaka’Llāhu to mean ‘May God preserve and protect you’.