فَكَفَى بِاللَّهِ شَهِيدًا بَيْنَنَا وَبَيْنَكُمْ إِنْ كُنَّا عَنْ عِبَادَتِكُمْ لَغَافِلِينَ ﴿۲۹﴾ هُنَالِكَ تَبْلُو كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَا أَسْلَفَتْ وَرُدُّوا إِلَى اللَّهِ مَوْلَاهُمُ الْحَقِّ وَضَلَّ عَنْهُمْ مَا كَانُوا يَفْتَرُونَ ﴿۳۰﴾

﴾29﴿ Fakafaa billaahi shaheedan bainanaa wa bainakum in kunnaa 'an 'ibaadatikum laghaafileen
﴾30﴿ Hunaalika tabloo kullu nafsin maaa 'aslafat; wa ruddoo ilal laahi mawlaahumul haqqi wa dalla 'anhum maa kaanoo yaftaroon

﴾29﴿ So Allah, the Exalted, is sufficient as a witness between us and you. Indeed, we were unaware of your worship
﴾30﴿ Then each person will perceive the reality of their deeds, which they had sent forth, and they will be returned to Allah, their true Master. And what they used to fabricate will vanish from them

[29] (Fakafā billāhi shahīdā)—This phrase functions like an oath, meaning: Allah alone is sufficient as a witness. The polytheists will say: “We certainly worshipped you—we prostrated at your graves, performed ṭawāf around them, made vows in your names, and called out to you for help (Yā Madad).”
But those righteous ones (prophets, saints, etc.) will firmly reply with a sworn denial: they will say they had no knowledge of any of it.
This verse is clear evidence that those prophets and saints whom people worshipped, called upon for help, or made vows in their names—were completely unaware of these actions. They neither heard nor saw them.
The same meaning is found in Surah Fāṭir (35:14) and Surah al-Aḥqāf (46:5).
The commentator Al-Alūsī writes: The essence is that idols (butān) are unaware in every sense. As for angels, they are distant because the polytheists worshipped heavenly angels—as mentioned in Surah al-Najm (53:26). As for saints (awliyā’), some of them were distant from their worshippers in their lifetimes and had no knowledge of their acts of worship. Others who were near had already passed away, and the dead do not hear speech, as explained in the discussions on Samā‘ al-Mawtā (whether the dead can hear).
Or it may be that Allah keeps the righteous ones unaware of the polytheists’ shirk and innovations so they do not feel sorrow or grief.
[30] This verse is also connected to the previous one. The meaning is: when it becomes clear to them on the Day of Judgment that those righteous ones (whom they worshipped) were unaware of their worship, their misdeeds will be exposed, and they will realize the error of their actions.
(Tablū)—Balā’ here means a trial that reveals the reality. That is, the truth of their deeds will be exposed to them—whether what they did was good or evil, accepted or rejected.
(Mawlāhum)—Here, mawlā means Master (i.e., Allah is their true owner). In Surah Muḥammad (47:11), mawlā means Helper. There’s no contradiction—because the word has multiple valid contextual meanings.
(Mā kānū yaftarūn)—Refers to their false claims of shirk, their invented proofs and stories, and their false deities—all of which will be proven baseless.