The Quran

190

فَلَمّا آتاهُما صالِحًا جَعَلا لَهُ شُرَكاءَ فيما آتاهُما ۚ فَتَعالَى اللَّهُ عَمّا يُشرِكونَ

Muhammad Asad

And yet, as soon as He has granted them sound [offspring], they begin to ascribe to other powers beside Him a share in bringing about what He has granted them!¹ Sublimely exalted, however, is God - above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity!

Lit., "they attribute to Him partners with regard to that which He has granted them": i.e., many of them look upon the contributing factors of sound childbirth (like personal care during pregnancy, medical assistance, eugenics, etc.) as something independent of God, forgetting that all these contributing factors are - like the birth of the child itself - but an outcome of God's will and grace: a manifestation of what the Qur'an calls "the way of God" (sunnat Allah). Since this kind of mental association of "other" factors with God is not really intentional, it does not amount to the unforgivable sin of shirk ("the ascribing of divine qualities to powers other than God"); but it is close enough to it to warrant the subsequent discourse on shirk in the real meaning of this term.