The Quran

Preface

أَفَمَن هُوَ قائِمٌ عَلىٰ كُلِّ نَفسٍ بِما كَسَبَت ۗ وَجَعَلوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكاءَ قُل سَمّوهُم ۚ أَم تُنَبِّئونَهُ بِما لا يَعلَمُ فِي الأَرضِ أَم بِظاهِرٍ مِنَ القَولِ ۗ بَل زُيِّنَ لِلَّذينَ كَفَروا مَكرُهُم وَصُدّوا عَنِ السَّبيلِ ۗ وَمَن يُضلِلِ اللَّهُ فَما لَهُ مِن هادٍ

Ali Quli Qarai

Is He who sustains every soul¹ in spite of what it earns [comparable to the idols]? And yet they ascribe partners to Allah! Say, ‘Name them!’ Will you inform Him of something He does not know about on the earth, or of [what are] mere words? Rather their scheming is presented as decorous to the faithless, and they have been barred from the [right] way; and whomever Allah leads astray, has no guide.

Or ‘Is He who maintains every soul in spite of what it earns.’ Or ‘Is He who is vigilant over every soul as to what it earns.’ See 9:25, where bimā is used in the sense of ‘in spite of.’