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Allahu ta’ālā, exalted be He, says: Nay - [here used] in order to reject the desire to believe implied by the optative [exclamation] - that which they used to conceal, to hide, before, by their saying, By Allahu ta’ālā, our Rabb, we were never idolaters! [Q. 6:23]) has now become evident to them, as their limbs have borne witness [against them], and so they [now] wish for that [mentioned in the previous verse]; and even if, hypothetically, they were returned, to the world, they would return to that which they are forbidden, of idolatry; they are truly liars, when they promise that they would believe [if they were to be returned].