Tafsir of Hud 11:18

{They will be presented before their Lord} They will be detained at the place of standing, their deeds will be displayed, and the witnesses—the angels and the prophets—will testify against them that they are the ones who lied about Allah by claiming He took a child or a partner. It will be said: {Unquestionably, the curse of Allah is upon the wrongdoers}. Oh, the disgrace! Oh, the scandal!

Al-Ashhad (the witnesses) is the plural of shahid (witness) or shahid (martyr), like ashab (companions) or ashraf (nobles).

{And they seek to make it crooked} They describe the path as crooked, while it is straight. Or, they seek for its people to deviate through apostasy. The second mention of {they} is to emphasize their disbelief in the Hereafter and their exclusivity to it.

{Those were not causing failure [to Allah] on earth} Meaning: They could not have frustrated Allah in the worldly life from punishing them had He willed to punish them. They had no one to take charge of them, support them against Him, or prevent His punishment. Rather, He willed to grant them respite and delay their punishment until this Day. This is part of the speech of the witnesses.

{The punishment will be doubled for them} (Also read as yuda‘af).

{They were not able to hear} He means that due to their extreme deafness to hearing the truth and their hatred for it, it is as if they are unable to hear. Perhaps some Mujbira (determinists) might pounce if they stumble upon this, crying out against the people of justice, as if they have not heard people say in every tongue: "This is speech I cannot bear to hear," or "This is something my hearing rejects."

It is also possible that by saying {And they had no allies}, he means they took their idols as allies instead of Allah, but their guardianship is nothing; thus, in reality, they had no allies. He then clarifies the negation of their guardianship by saying: {They were not able to hear, nor did they see}—so how could they be fit for guardianship?

The statement {The punishment will be doubled for them} is an interjection of threat.

{They have lost themselves} They traded the worship of Allah for the worship of idols. Their loss in this transaction is such that no loss is greater: they lost their own selves.

{And lost from them} Meaning: It became void and vanished—that which they used to fabricate, namely the idols and their intercession.

{No doubt} (Explained elsewhere).

{They are the greatest losers} You will not see anyone whose loss is more manifest than theirs.

{Indeed, those who have believed and done righteous deeds and humbled themselves to their Lord - those are the companions of Paradise; they will abide therein eternally.}