The Quran

ضَرَبَ اللَّهُ مَثَلًا رَجُلًا فيهِ شُرَكاءُ مُتَشاكِسونَ وَرَجُلًا سَلَمًا لِرَجُلٍ هَل يَستَوِيانِ مَثَلًا ۚ الحَمدُ لِلَّهِ ۚ بَل أَكثَرُهُم لا يَعلَمونَ

Muhammad Asad

[To this end,] God sets forth a parable: A man who has for his masters several partners,¹ [all of them] at variance with one another, and a man depending wholly on one person: can these two be deemed equal as regards their condition?² [Nay,] all praise is due to God [alone]: but most of them do not understand this.

Lit., "with regard to whom there are [several] partners (shuraka')", i.e., as masters: a metaphor for belief in a plurality of divine powers.
The term mathal, which is usually rendered by me as "parable" (e.g., at the beginning of this verse as well as in verse 27), primarily denotes a "likeness", i.e., of one thing to another; but sometimes it is used tropically as a synonym for sifah (the "quality", "intrinsic attribute" or "nature" of a thing) or halah (its "state" or "condition"). In the present instance, the last-mentioned of these meanings is most appropriate, inasmuch as it alludes to man's condition arising from either of two contrasting attitudes: a belief in God's transcendental oneness and uniqueness, on the one hand, and a readiness to ascribe divine powers and qualities to a variety of created beings or supposed "incarnations" of God, on the other.