56 Preface وَيَجعَلونَ لِما لا يَعلَمونَ نَصيبًا مِمّا رَزَقناهُم ۗ تَاللَّهِ لَتُسأَلُنَّ عَمّا كُنتُم تَفتَرونَYusuf AliAnd they (even) assign, to things they do not know,1 a portion out of that which We have bestowed for their sustenance!2 By God, ye shall certainly be called to account for your false inventions.Idols and fictitious gods are certainly things of which they have no knowledge, idols being lifeless things of whose life or doings no knowledge is possible, and fictitious gods being but figments of their imagination.Cf. 6:136-140, 142-144, and 5:103. The Pagans, in assigning and dedicating some of their children, or some of their cattle, or some of the produce of their fields, to their false gods as shares with the true Supreme God, made themselves doubly ridiculous; first, because every good thing that they valued was given to them by God, and how could they patronisingly assign to Him a share of His own gifts?-and secondly, because they brought in other gods as shares, who had no existence whatever! Besides, the cattle and produce were given for their physical sustenance and the children for their social and spiritual sustenance, and how can they, poor creatures, give sustenance to God?