25:14 [al-Furqan, Mecca 42]Asad

[But they will be told:] "Pray not today for one single extinction, but pray for many

extinctions!" 11

(25:15) Say: "Which is better - that, or the paradise of life abiding which has been promised to the God-conscious as their reward and their journey's end –

(25:16) a promise given by thy Sustainer, (always] to be prayed for?"

25:17

BUT [as for people who are oblivious of thy Sustainer's oneness 12 -] one Day He will gather them together with all that they [now) worship instead of God, and will ask [those to whom divinity was falsely ascribed 13 ]: "Was it you who led these My creatures astray, or did they by themselves stray from the right path?"

25:18 [al-Furqan, Mecca 42]Asad

They will answer: "Limitless art Thou in Thy glory! It was inconceivable for us to take for our masters anyone but Thyself! " But [as for them - ] Thou didst allow them and their forefathers to enjoy [the pleasures of] life to such an extent that 15 they forgot all remembrance [of Thee]: for they were people devoid of all good."

Ali’s translation:

قَالُوا سُبْحَانَكَ مَا كَانَ يَنبَغِي لَنَا أَن نَّتَّخِذَ مِن دُونِكَ مِنْ أَوْلِيَاء...

25 : 18. They will say:

"Glory to Thee! not meet was it for us that we should take for protectors others besides Thee:

C3073. The creatures of Allah who were worshipped will prove that they never asked for worship: on the contrary they themselves worshipped Allah and sought the protection of Allah and of none but Allah. Cf. 46:5-6.

They will go further and show that the false worshippers added ingratitude to their other sins: for Allah bestowed abundance on them, and they blasphemed against Allah. They were indeed "worthless and destroyed", for the word bar bears both significations.

... وَلَكِن مَّتَّعْتَهُمْ وَآبَاءهُمْ حَتَّى نَسُوا الذِّكْرَ...

but Thou didst bestow, on them and their fathers, good things (in life), until they forgot the Message:

... وَكَانُوا قَوْمًا بُورًا ﴿١٨﴾

for they were a people (worthless and) lost.