Wayawma yahshuruhum jameeAAan thumma yaqoolu lilmala-ikati ahaola-i iyyakum kanoo yaAAbudoon (surah Saba: 40)

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

(34:40) And on the Day when He will muster them all and will ask the angels: 'Are they the ones who worshipped you?' *61

Wa yawma yahshuruhum jamee`an summa yaqoolu lilmalaaa`ikati a-haaa`ulaaa`i iyyaakum kaanoo ya`budoon

*61) Since the earliest times the polytheists in every age have been looking upon the angels as gods and goddesses and carving their idols and worshipping them. One has been regarded as the god of rain, another of lightning and another of wind; one is the goddess of wealth, another of knowledge and another of life and death. About this Allah says that on the Day of Resurrection the angels will be asked: 'Were you being worshipped as deities by these people?" This question is not meant merely to find out the truth, but to ask, "Did you approve of their worship? Did you tell the people that you were their deities, so they should worship you? Or, did you wish that the people should do obeisance to you?" This question will not only be asked of the angels but of aII those beings who have been worshipped as gods in the world. In Surah AI-Furqan it has been said: "On that Day (Allah) will gather all these people together as well as their deities, whom they worship beside Allah. Then he will ask them, 'Did you mislead these servants of Mine, or did they themselves go astray?' " (V. 17).