The Quran

فَلَولا نَصَرَهُمُ الَّذينَ اتَّخَذوا مِن دونِ اللَّهِ قُربانًا آلِهَةً ۖ بَل ضَلّوا عَنهُم ۚ وَذٰلِكَ إِفكُهُم وَما كانوا يَفتَرونَ

Muhammad Asad

But, then, did those [beings] whom they had chosen to worship as deities beside God, hoping that they would bring them nearer [to Him],¹ help them [in the end]? Nay, they forsook them: for that [alleged divinity] was but an outcome of their self-delusion and all their false imagery.²

This clause gives the meaning of the expression qurbanan, which contains an allusion not merely to false deities but also to the deification of saints, living or dead, who allegedly act as mediators between man and the transcendental Supreme Being.
Lit., "that was their lie and all that they were wont to invent".