Ruh al-Ma'ani on Hud 11:21

Surah Hud 11:21

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ﱜ ﱝ ﱞ ﱟ ﱠ ﱡ ﱢ ﱣ ﱤ

Those are the ones who will have lost themselves, and lost from them is what they used to invent.

{Those are the ones who have lost their own selves...}

Those who are described by those ugly traits are the ones who have lost their own selves by purchasing the worship of idols in exchange for the worship of Allah, Exalted is His Majesty. It is said: They "lost" because they exchanged guidance for misguidance and the Hereafter for this worldly life, and thus what they had acquired through that exchange—the provisions of worldly life and prestige—vanished from them.

In al-Bahr, it is stated that this is a case of an omitted genitive addition (idafah), meaning: they lost the happiness and comfort of their own selves, for their selves remain in a state of torment. This has been critiqued by the argument that keeping the text on its literal meaning is more appropriate, as abiding in torment is akin to [the loss of] the self itself.

{And what they used to invent has strayed away from them}

—that is, from their idols and their [purported] intercession.

Tafsir of Hud 11:21

Ruh al-Ma'ani

{Those are the ones who have lost their own selves...}

{And what they used to invent has strayed away from them}