[When Omar the son of Khattab converted, it was so troublesome to Quraish; therefore, they gathered to meet Abu Talib and ask the Prophet to leave them and what they worshipped, and they then would leave him and what he worshipped.
Abu Talib then sent for him, and the Prophet came and said: “I ask them for one word by means of which the Arab will submit to them, and the non-Arab give tribute.”
They said: “We may give you ten words, so what is such word?”
He said: “You should say: No god but God!”
So they went away, saying:]
5. "Has he made [all] the gods into One God? This indeed is a very astonishing thing."
6. And the chiefs of them f departed g [and said to each other:] "Go and be constant to [worship] your gods h; [for] this is a thing binding [on us.]"
7. “We have not heard of anything like this in any previous creed; this i surely is [something] invented [by Mohammed.]” j
8. "So has the 'admonition' [: the Quran] been revealed to him exclusive of us?"k
[So God – be glorified – said:]
But actually they are in doubt of My admonition l.
In fact they have not yet suffered My chastisement m.
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f i.e. of Quraish tribesmen.
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g From their meeting with Abu Talib.
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h And do not listen to the words of Mohammed.
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i Saying of Mohammed.
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j i.e. new words and lies which he wants to force them on us.
It means: We did not hear about the people of the other religions that they rejected the statues, but only the new religion brought by Mohammed; for:
Christians have the statue of Mary and the statue of Jesus which is the cross,
and
Jews have the statues of the angels having wings which they call the cherubim, in addition to the two gold calf statues which they worshipped in the past; moreover they worshipped the stone statues which they called the Baalim and Ashtaroth.
So likewise
we [the Arab] also take statues of the angels to sanctify them in order that the angels will intercede for us before God.
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k It means: Has the 'admonition' been revealed to him out of all of us, while among us there are the richer, greater and stronger than he is, and nothing has been revealed to them; so how has it been revealed to Mohammed the poor orphan?
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l i.e. they said such words only because they doubt about the Quran.
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m At that time, their doubt will go away. It means:
When they die and suffer the chastisement of the Afterlife, at that time they will believe when their belief will not profit them.
http://quran-ayat.com/pret/38.htm#a38_3
quran-ayat(dot)com/pret/38(dot)htm#a38_3