The Quran

Preface

لَهُ دَعوَةُ الحَقِّ ۖ وَالَّذينَ يَدعونَ مِن دونِهِ لا يَستَجيبونَ لَهُم بِشَيءٍ إِلّا كَباسِطِ كَفَّيهِ إِلَى الماءِ لِيَبلُغَ فاهُ وَما هُوَ بِبالِغِهِ ۚ وَما دُعاءُ الكافِرينَ إِلّا في ضَلالٍ

Yusuf Ali

For Him (alone) is prayer in Truth:¹ any others that they call upon besides Him hear them no more than if they were to stretch forth their hands for water to reach their mouths but it reaches them not: for the prayer of those without Faith is nothing but (futile) wandering (in the mind).²

Haqq= truth; right; what is due, befitting, proper. All these meanings are to be understood here. If we worship anything other than God (whether it is idols, stars, powers of nature, spirits, or deified men, or Self, or Power, or Wealth, Science or Art, Talent or Intellect), our worship is both foolish and futile.
Without Faith, it is obvious that prayer or worship has no meaning whatever. It is but an aberration of the mind. But there is a deeper meaning. You may have false faith, as in superstitions or in worshipping things other than God, as explained in the last note. In that case, too, you are pursuing mere phantoms of the mind. When you come to examine it, it is mere imbecility or futility. Worship and prayer are justified only to God, the One True God (Cf. 40:50). (R).