They even said, “If the Most Gracious willed, we would not have worshiped them.” They have no basis for such a claim; they only conjecture.*
وَقالوا لَو شاءَ الرَّحمٰنُ ما عَبَدنٰهُم ما لَهُم بِذٰلِكَ مِن عِلمٍ إِن هُم إِلّا يَخرُصونَ
wa qaaloo law shaaa’ar Rahmaanu maa ‘abadnaahum; maa lahum bizaalika min ‘ilmin in hum illaa yakhrusoon
*43:20 The idol worshipers cannot blame God for their idolatry, since we have absolute freedom of choice to worship God alone, or not.