Quran Universe
21:64

فَرَجَعُوٓاْ إِلَىٰٓ أَنفُسِهِمۡ فَقَالُوٓاْ إِنَّكُمۡ أَنتُمُ ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ

FarajaAAoo ila anfusihim faqaloo innakum antumu alththalimoona

So they returned to [blaming] themselves and said [to each other], "Indeed, you are the wrongdoers."

Word by word
  1. فَرَجَعُوٓاْSo they returned
  2. إِلَىٰٓto
  3. أَنفُسِهِمۡthemselves
  4. فَقَالُوٓاْand said
  5. إِنَّكُمۡIndeed,you
  6. أَنتُمُ[you]
  7. ٱلظَّـٰلِمُونَ(are) the wrongdoers
Al-Anbya · 21:64Makkah

For a moment they turned on themselves: we are the wrongdoers.

A flash of self-blame, aimed at the wrong thing

Their reaction
his peopleturned inward
said
we failedto guard our gods
What they blamed
weak securitywe left them unguarded
the belief itselfgods that need guards

The tafsir explains they blamed themselves for not protecting their gods: you are the wrongdoers because you neglected them. They came close to the point and missed it. A god that needs guarding is no god.

The diet failed, so you blame yourself for not trying hard enough, then try the same fad again. You fix the details and keep the bad idea. Sometimes the plan itself is what needs dropping.

When something fails, I just need to try harder at it.

Sometimes the failure is not my effort but the thing I put my trust in.

Try this

Look at one repeated failure in your life and ask whether the goal itself is wrong.

Simplified reflection. Read the tafsir for scholarship.draft
Tafsir Ibn Kathir

So they turned to themselves and said: "Verily, you are the wrongdoers. (64)Then they turned to themselves: "Indeed you know well that these speak not! (65)He said: "Do you then worship besides Allah, things that can neither profit you nor harm you? (66)"Fie upon you, and upon that which you worship besides Allah! Have you then no sense? (67)

The People's admission of their gods' incapability, and Ibrahim's preaching

Allah tells us that when Ibrahim said what he said, his people

فَرَجَعُوا إِلَىٰ أَنفُسِهِمْ 

(turned to themselves) meaning, they blamed themselves for not taking precautions and protecting their gods. They said:

إِنَّكُمْ أَنتُمُ الظَّالِمُونَ

(Verily, you are the wrongdoers) i.e., because you neglected them and did not guard them.

ثُمَّ نُكِسُوا عَلَىٰ رُءُوسِهِمْ

(Then they turned to themselves) means, they looked at the ground, and said:

لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا هَٰؤُلَاءِ يَنطِقُونَ

(Indeed you (Ibrahim) know well that these speak not!) Qatadah said: "The people admitted their guilt and confusion, and said,

لَقَدْ عَلِمْتَ مَا هَٰؤُلَاءِ يَنطِقُونَ

("Indeed you know well that these speak not!") 'So how can you tell us to ask them, if they cannot speak and you know that they cannot speak?' At this point, when they admitted that, Ibrahim said to them:

أَفَتَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ مَا لَا يَنفَعُكُمْ شَيْئًا وَلَا يَضُرُّكُمْ

(Do you then worship besides Allah, things that can neither profit you nor harm you?) meaning, if they cannot speak and they can neither benefit you nor harm you, then why do you worship them instead of Allah?

أُفٍّ لَّكُمْ وَلِمَا تَعْبُدُونَ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ ۖ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ

(Fie upon you, and upon that which you worship besides Allah! Have you then no sense?) 'Do you not realize the extent of the misguidance and extreme disbelief which you are following, which no one could accept but one who is an ignorant and evil wrongdoer?' He defeated them in argument and left them with no way out. Allah said:

وَتِلْكَ حُجَّتُنَا آتَيْنَاهَا إِبْرَاهِيمَ عَلَىٰ قَوْمِهِ

(And that was Our proof which We gave Ibrahim against his people)(6:83)