Waman adallu mimman yadAAoo min dooni Allahi man la yastajeebu lahu ila (surah Ahqaf: 5)

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

(46:5) Who is farther strayed from the Right Path than he who calls upon others than Allah that cannot answer his call till the Day of Resurrection, *5 the while they are not even conscious that callers are calling upon them? *6

Wa man adallu mimmany yad`oo min doonil laahi mallaa yastajeebu lahooo ilaa Yawmil Qiyaamati wa hum`an du`aaa`ihim ghaafiloon

*5) "Cannot answer him": Cannot answer the supplications of any one. That is, these gods do not possess the powers by virtue of which they could give decisions on the prayers and petitions of their devotees. (For further explanation, see E.N. 33 of Az-Zumar). "Till the Day of Resurrection" means that as long as the world lasts they will get no answer to their supplications and prayers from their deities, but when Resurrection will have taken place, the deities will turn hostile to their worshippers themselves, as becomes explicit from the next verse.
*6) That is, "they do not even hear the supplications of the supplicants, neither through their own ears nor through any other means. " This thing can be elaborated like this: The being whom the polytheists the world over have been invoking are divided into three categories: (1) Lifeless and inanimate creation; (2) the pious men who have passed away; and (3) the wicked men who had themselves gone astray, and who misled others and passed away. As for the first category of the deities they will naturally remain unaware of the supplications of their worshippers. As for the deities of the second kind, who were favourites with their God, there arc two reasons of their remaining unaware: (a) They are in the presence of AIIah in a state where human voices cannot reach them directly; and (b) even Allah and His angels do not inform them that the people whom they had been teaching to invoke Allah alone in the world, were invoking them instead, for no information could cause them a greater shock than this, and Allah does not at alI like to vex the souls of His righteous servants. Now if we consider the case of the third kind of the deities, we shall sec that there are two reasons also of their remaining unaware: (a) That they have been placed in confinement as the accused, and no voice from the world can reach them; and (b) that even Allah and His angels do not convey to them the news that their mission is flourishing in the world, and the people have set them up as deities, for this news would be a happy news for them, and Allah does not like to make the wicked people happy.
In this connection, one should also understand that Allah conveys to His righteous servants the greetings of peace and prayers of mercy from the people of the world, for these things arc a source of joy and pleasure for them; likewise, He informs the culprits of the curses, censures and condemnations of the people of the world, as the disbelievers killed in the Battle of Badr were made to hear the curse of the Holy Prophet according to a Hadith, for it is a cause of anguish for them. But anything which might cause distress to the righteous people and joy to the culprits is not conveyed to them. This explanation makes the truth about the,. question of hearing by the dead plain and easy to understand.