Tafsir of Yunus 10:18

{What neither harms them nor benefits them} These are the idols, which are inanimate objects incapable of bringing benefit or causing harm. It is said: If they worship them, they will not benefit them, and if they abandon their worship, they will not harm them. It is the right of the One who is worshipped to reward obedience and punish disobedience.

The people of Ta'if worshipped al-Lat, while the people of Mecca worshipped al-'Uzza, Manat, Hubal, Isaf, and Na'ilah.

{And they say: "These are our intercessors with Allah."} Al-Nadr ibn al-Harith said: "When the Day of Resurrection comes, al-Lat and al-'Uzza will intercede for me."

{Do you inform Allah of what He does not know} Do you inform Him that they are intercessors with Him? This is an announcement of something that is not known to Allah. Since it is not known to Him—and He is the Knower of the Essence, encompassing all known things—it does not exist. For a "thing" is that which is known and reported; thus, it is a report that has no reality to be reported.

If you ask: How could they inform Allah of that? I say: It is a mockery of them and the impossibility they claimed—the intercession of idols. It is a declaration that what they reported is false and contains no truth. It is as if they are informing Him of something that His knowledge does not encompass, just as a man might inform another of something he does not know.

It is read as atunabbi'una (with the tashdid lightened).

{In the heavens nor on the earth} This is an emphasis on its negation, for whatever does not exist in them is non-existent and void.

{You associate} It is read with both the ta (you) and the ya (they). Ma (what) is either relative or infinitive; meaning: [exalted is He] above the partners they associate with Him, or above their act of association.

{And mankind was not but one community, then they differed. And if not for a word that preceded from your Lord, it would have been judged between them regarding that over which they differ. And they say: "Why is a sign not sent down to him from his Lord?" Say: "The unseen belongs only to Allah, so wait; indeed, I am with you among those who wait."}