The Quran

أَلا إِنَّ لِلَّهِ مَن فِي السَّماواتِ وَمَن فِي الأَرضِ ۗ وَما يَتَّبِعُ الَّذينَ يَدعونَ مِن دونِ اللَّهِ شُرَكاءَ ۚ إِن يَتَّبِعونَ إِلَّا الظَّنَّ وَإِن هُم إِلّا يَخرُصونَ

Muhammad Asad

OH, VERILY, unto God belongs whoever is in the heavens and whoever is on earth: hence, what is it that they follow - those who invoke, beside God. beings to whom they ascribe a share in His divinity?¹ They follow but the conjectures [of others], and themselves do nothing but guess -

Lit., "partners", i.e., of God (see surah 6, note 15). The substantive pronoun man ("whoever") occurring twice in the first part of this verse contains an allusion to rational beings (as distinct from inanimate objects) whom "those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God" consider to be endowed with qualities or powers which, in fact, belong to Him alone. The Qur'an argues against this idolatrous concept by pointing out that all rational beings, whether men or angels, "belong to God" (i.e., are - like everything else in the universe - wholly dependent on Him for their existence), possessing no divine qualities and, therefore, no reality as objects of worship.