فَلَوْلَا نَصَرَهُمُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّخَذُوا۟ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ قُرْبَانًا ءَالِهَةًۢ ۖ بَلْ ضَلُّوا۟ عَنْهُمْ ۚ وَذَٰلِكَ إِفْكُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ يَفْتَرُونَ
falawlā naṣarahumu alladhīna ittakhadhū min dūni l-lahi qur'bānan ālihatan bal ḍallū ʿanhum wadhālika if'kuhum wamā kānū yaftarūna
so why did their gods not help them, those they set up as gods besides God to bring them nearer to Him? No indeed! They failed them utterly: it was all a lie of their own making.
Then why did those whom they had taken for âlihah (gods) besides Allâh, as a way of approach (to Allâh) not help them? Nay, but they vanished completely from them (when there came the torment). And that was their lie, and their inventions which they had been inventing (before their destruction).