194إِنَّ الَّذينَ تَدعونَ مِن دونِ اللَّهِ عِبادٌ أَمثالُكُم ۖ فَادعوهُم فَليَستَجيبوا لَكُم إِن كُنتُم صادِقينَMuhammad AsadVerily, all those whom you invoke beside God are but created beings1 like yourselves: invoke them, then, and let them answer your prayer - if what you claim is true!Lit., "servants" ('ibad)- i.e., created beings subservient to God's will. This refers to saints living or dead, as well as to inanimate objects of every description, including idols, fetishes and representational images - physical or mental - of saints or deified persons.