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.

Lit., "that which does not create anything": a phrase expressed in the singular, but having the plural meaning of "beings" - that is, either animate beings (like saints or supposedly "divine" personalities) or their inanimate representations.

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.

Lit., "summon your [God-]partners" (see surah 6, note 15).

Lit., "though thou seest them looking at thee" -but since the pronoun "them" inn tarahum ("thou seest them") refers to mental images no less than to physical representations, the verb must be understood in its abstract sense of "seeing with the mind", i.e., "considering" or "imagining". In contrast with the preceding passages, which are addressed to those who actually invoke false deities or images, the last sentence is addressed to man in general, sinner and believer alike: and this generalization is brought out by changing the form of address from "you" to "thou".

Lit., "accept what is easily forthcoming [from man's nature]". According to Zamakhshari, khudh al-afw means: "Accept what comes easily to thee [or "what is willingly accorded to thee"] of the doings and the nature of men, and make things easy [for them], without causing them undue hardship (kulfah); and do not demand of them efforts that may be too difficult for them." This interpretation - which has been adopted by many other classical commentators as well - is based on the identical explanation of the phrase khudh al'afw by `Abd Allah ibn az-Zubayr and his brother `Urwah (Bukhari), as well as by `A'ishah and, in the next generation, by Hisham ibn `Urwah and Mujahid (see Tabari, Baghawi and Ibn Kathir). Thus, in accordance with the Qur'anic statements that "man has been created weak" (4:28) and that "God does not burden any human being with more than he is well able to bear" (2:286. 6:152, 7:42, 23:62), the believer is admonished to make due allowance for human nature and not to be too harsh with those who err. This admonition is the more remarkable as it follows immediately upon a discourse on the most unforgivable of all sins - the ascribing of divine powers or qualities to anyone or anything but God.'

Lit., "the ignorant ones*'- i.e., those who wilfully remain deaf to moral truths. and not' those who are simply unaware of them.

These human demigods have no foundation of truth to stand on, nor the power to avert requital, nor the faculties to confront Reason