48إِنَّ اللَّهَ لا يَغفِرُ أَن يُشرَكَ بِهِ وَيَغفِرُ ما دونَ ذٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشاءُ ۚ وَمَن يُشرِك بِاللَّهِ فَقَدِ افتَرىٰ إِثمًا عَظيمًاMuhammad AsadVERILY, God does not forgive the ascribing of divinity to aught beside Him, although He forgives any lesser sin1 unto whomever He wills: for he who ascribes divinity to aught beside God has indeed contrived an awesome sin.2Lit., "anything below that".The continuous stress, in the Qur'an, on God's transcendental oneness and uniqueness aims at freeing man from all sense of dependence on other influences and powers, and thus at elevating him spiritually and bringing about the "purification" alluded to in the next verse. Since this objective is vitiated by the sin of shirk ("the ascribing of divine qualities to aught beside God"), the Qur'an describes it as "unforgivable" so long as it is persisted in, i.e., unless and until the sinner repents (cf. verses 17 and 18 of this surah).