The Quran

قالوا أَوَلَم تَكُ تَأتيكُم رُسُلُكُم بِالبَيِّناتِ ۖ قالوا بَلىٰ ۚ قالوا فَادعوا ۗ وَما دُعاءُ الكافِرينَ إِلّا في ضَلالٍ

Muhammad Asad

[But the keepers of hell] will ask, "Is it not [true] that your apostles came unto you with all evidence of the truth?" Those [in the fire] will reply, "Yea, indeed." [And the keepers of hell] will say, "Pray, then!"¹ - for the prayer of those who deny the truth cannot lead to aught but delusion.

According to the classical commentators, this answer implies no more than a refusal on the part of the "keepers of hell" to intercede for the doomed sinners, telling them, as it were, "Pray yourselves, if you can." It seems to me, however, that we have here an indirect allusion to the sinners erstwhile, blasphemous devotion to false objects of worship and false values the meaning being, "Pray now to those imaginary powers to which you were wont to ascribe a share in God's divinity, and see whether they can help you!" This interpretation finds support in the next sentence, which speaks of the delusion (dalal) inherent in the prayers of "those who deny the truth", i.e., during their life on earth - for, obviously, on the Day of Judgment all such delusions will have disappeared.