Tafsir of Al-Ahqaf 46:28

فلوﻻ نصرهم الذين اتخذوا من دون الله قربانا آلهة

so that perhaps they might return. As for those whom they had taken for gods besides Allah, as the means of approach to Him, why then did they not aid them? meaning, did they help them when they were in the greatest need for them?

بل ضلوا عنهم

but they vanished completely from them. Rather, they completely left them alone when they needed them the most.

وذلك إفكهم

And that was their falsehood, (meaning, their lie).

وما كانوا يفترون

and what they were fabricating. which means that they fabricated lies by taking them as gods, and they lost and failed in their worship of them and their reliance upon them -- and Allah knows best