You are reading a tafsir for the group of verses 21:64 to 21:67
فَرَجَعُوْۤا
اِلٰۤی
اَنْفُسِهِمْ
فَقَالُوْۤا
اِنَّكُمْ
اَنْتُمُ
الظّٰلِمُوْنَ
۟ۙ
ثُمَّ
نُكِسُوْا
عَلٰی
رُءُوْسِهِمْ ۚ
لَقَدْ
عَلِمْتَ
مَا
هٰۤؤُلَآءِ
یَنْطِقُوْنَ
۟
قَالَ
اَفَتَعْبُدُوْنَ
مِنْ
دُوْنِ
اللّٰهِ
مَا
لَا
یَنْفَعُكُمْ
شَیْـًٔا
وَّلَا
یَضُرُّكُمْ
۟ؕ
اُفٍّ
لَّكُمْ
وَلِمَا
تَعْبُدُوْنَ
مِنْ
دُوْنِ
اللّٰهِ ؕ
اَفَلَا
تَعْقِلُوْنَ
۟
3

On hearing such replies from Abraham, the people could have accused him of insolence and taken him to task, as usually happens in such cases. But, in spite of their being polytheists, there seemed to be some sense of reason left in them. So, realizing the force of the rationality in his replies, they felt ashamed and admitted that they were wrong. Had they not subsequently fallen a prey to prejudices, this experience would have been sufficient to lead them towards the true faith.