﴿ أَوْ تَقُولُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَآ أَشْرَكَ ءَابَآؤُنَا مِن قَبْلُ وَكُنَّا ذُرِّيَّةًۭ مِّنۢ بَعْدِهِمْ ۖ أَفَتُهْلِكُنَا بِمَا فَعَلَ ٱلْمُبْطِلُونَ ﴾

“or lest you say, "Verily, it was but our forefathers who, in times gone by, began to ascribe divinity to other beings beside God; and we were but their late offspring: wilt Thou, then, destroy us for the doings of those inventors of falsehoods?"”

Or lest you should say ‘It is merely that our fathers were idolaters before that is before our time and we were descendants of theirs and so we followed their example. Will You then destroy us chastise us for that which those who follow falsehood did?’ from among our forefathers by their establishing idolatry? The meaning is they cannot use such arguments when they have been made to testify before their very selves to God’s Oneness. To effect this reminder by the tongue of the bearer of the miracle Muhammad (s) equally serves as a reminder for every soul to remember this within itself.