Tafsir of Saba' 34:41

(They said: Glory be to You! You are our Protector, not them.)

This is an explanatory commencement, as if it were asked: "What, then, do the angels say at that time?" It is said: They speak while declaring Him transcendent above that [association], saying: "Glory be to You! You are our Protector, not them." The shift to the past tense indicates certainty, meaning: "You are the One whom we take as Protector, excluding them; there is no bond of allegiance between us and them." By this, they demonstrate their innocence of any consent to their worship.

Then, they turn away from that and deny that they were truly worshipped by them, saying: (Nay, but they used to worship the Jinn). This means the devils, as narrated by Mujahid, for they used to obey them in the [sins] they enticed them to commit, such as worshipping other than Allah Almighty. It is said: The devils fashioned for them images of a people from the Jinn and said, "These are the images of the angels, so worship them," and they worshipped them. It is also said: They used to enter the interiors of the idols when they were worshipped, so they were worshipped through the worship of those idols. Another view is that they meant: "They worshipped something they imagined to be applicable to the Jinn, not applicable to us; thus, they worship the Jinn in reality, not us."

Ibn Atiyyah said: "It is possible that among the disbelieving nations there were those who worshipped the Jinn, and there are verses in the Quran from which it appears that the Jinn were worshipped, as in Surah al-An'am and elsewhere."

(Most of them are believers in them.) The second pronoun refers to the Jinn, and the first to the polytheists. The majority interpretation is to take it at its literal meaning, because there were among the polytheists those who did not believe in them, but worshipped them only in imitation of their people, such as Abu Talib; or [it is said] "the majority" means "all." In al-Bahr, the first view is chosen, because taking it to mean "all" is not the literal truth. He said: "They did not claim comprehensive knowledge, as there may be among the disbelievers those whom Allah Almighty did not reveal to the angels, peace be upon them." Alternatively, they passed judgment on the majority regarding their belief in the Jinn because belief is among the actions of the heart, and they did not claim insight into all their hearts' actions, for that belongs to Allah the Exalted.

It is also permitted that the first pronoun refers to mankind; thus, "the majority" is taken at its literal meaning, i.e., most of them believe them to be gods. It is said they believe them to be the daughters of God (and they have established a lineage between Him and the Jinn), and it is said they believe them to be angels.