ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ ضَرَبُوا۟ لَكَ ٱلْأَمْثَالَ فَضَلُّوا۟ فَلَا يَسْتَطِيعُونَ سَبِيلًا Qur’an Al-Israa (17:48)Onthur kayfa daraboo laka alamthala fadalloo fala yastateeAAoona sabeelan
They rejected you as a magician, a poet, a fabricator, and madman.
Note that the word used is "Sabilan" "a way", not "the way". In going astray they have lost the way; but never can they find any means of getting back to that way, or of justifying themselves or making good their wicked similes.