لَهُۥ
دَعۡوَةُ
ٱلۡحَقِّۚ
وَٱلَّذِينَ
يَدۡعُونَ
مِن
دُونِهِۦ
لَا
يَسۡتَجِيبُونَ
لَهُم
بِشَيۡءٍ
إِلَّا
كَبَٰسِطِ
كَفَّيۡهِ
إِلَى
ٱلۡمَآءِ
لِيَبۡلُغَ
فَاهُ
وَمَا
هُوَ
بِبَٰلِغِهِۦۚ
وَمَا
دُعَآءُ
ٱلۡكَٰفِرِينَ
إِلَّا
فِي
ضَلَٰلٖ
١٤
Unto Him is the real prayer. Those unto whom they pray beside Allah respond to them not at all, save as (is the response to) one who stretcheth forth his hands toward water (asking) that it may come unto his mouth, and it will never reach it. The prayer of disbelievers goeth (far) astray.
— M. Pickthall
To Him [alone] is the supplication of truth. And those they call upon besides Him do not respond to them with a thing, except as one who stretches his hands toward water [from afar, calling it] to reach his mouth, but it will not reach it [thus].1 And the supplication of the disbelievers is not but in error [i.e., futility].
— Saheeh International
For Him (alone) is prayer in Truth: any others that they call upon besides Him hear them no more than if they were to stretch forth their hands for water to reach their mouths but it reaches them not: for the prayer of those without Faith is nothing but (futile) wandering (in the mind).
— A. Yusuf Ali
Read Tafsir
Ibn Kathir (Abridged)
A Parable for the Weakness of the False Gods of the Polytheists
`Ali bin Abi Talib said that Allah's statement,
لَهُ دَعْوَةُ الْحَقِّ
(For Him is the Word of Truth.) is in reference to Tawhid, according to Ibn Jarir At-Tabari. Ibn `Abbas, Qatadah, and Malik who narrated it from Muhammad bin Al-Munkadi
…A Parable for the Weakness of the False Gods of the Polytheists
`Ali bin Abi Talib said that Allah's statement,
لَهُ دَعْوَةُ الْحَقِّ
(For Him is the Wo
…