"And the Day We will gather them all," meaning: the polytheists and their idols. "Then We will say to those who associated others with Allah, 'Remain in your place, you and your partners,'" meaning: the idols. "So We will separate them," by the evils, meaning: the polytheists separately, and the idols separately. "And their partners will say, 'It was not us that you used to worship.'" The idols will say this to the polytheists: Your worship of us was not based on any call from us to you; rather, it was Satan who invited you to worship us.
Muhammad said: It is permissible to use the accusative case (nasb) in His saying - exalted is He - "Remain in your place (makanakum)," as an imperative, as if it is said to them: Stay in your place until you are separated; and it is a phrase that has become used for threatening. The Arabs say: "Makanaka" (stay in your place) when threatening with it.
His saying - exalted is He - "So We will separate them" means: We will distinguish them. It is said: "Azaltu al-shay'a min al-shay'i uziluhu" (I separated the thing from the thing), meaning: I distinguished it from it, 'amizuhu' (I distinguish it).
