Wama kana salatuhum AAinda albayti illa mukaan watasdiyatan fathooqoo alAAathaba bima kuntum (surah Anfal: 35)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(8:35) Their Prayer at the House is nothing but whistling and handclapping. *28 Taste, then, this chastisement for your denying the truth. *29

Wa maa kaana Salaatuhum `indal Baiti illa mukaaa anw-wa tasdiyah; fazooqul `azaaba bimaa kuntum takfuroon

*28). This is to dispel a misconception common among the Arabs of those days. They were generally inclined to assume that since the Quraysh were the guardians and keepers of the Ka'bah and were also engaged in worship at that holy spot, they were recipients of God's special favours. Here people are told that the defacto guardianship of the Ka'bah should not be confused with its de jure guardianship. For only the God-fearing and pious are the rightful guardians of the Ka,bah. As for the Quraysh, far from behaving in a manner becoming of the guardians of the Ka'bah, they had virtually installed themselves as its masters, and were guilty of preventing people from worshipping there at will. This attitude blatantly betrayed their impiety, and un righteousness. As for their worship in the Ka'bah. it was altogether devoid of religious devotion and sincerity. They neither turned earnestly to God, nor displayed any genuine submission or humility, nor engaged in worshipfully remembering Him. Their worship consisted of meaningless noise and clamour, of acts which seemed closer to play and jest than acts of religious devotion. How could such a guardianship of the Ka'bah and such non-serious acts in the name of worship win God's favour for them, or secure for them immunity from God's scourge?
*29). The Quraysh believed that God's punishment necessarily takes the form of some natural calamity or a rain of stones from the sky. They are, however, told that their decisive defeat in the Battle of Badr, which ensured the survival of Islam and spelled death for their much-cherished Jahiliyah was a form of God's punishment for them.