Ali Quli Qarai, The Qur’ān with a Phrase-by-Phrase English Translation (2005)
116 Indeed Allah does not forgive
that any partner should be ascribed to Him,
but He forgives anything besides that
to whomever He wishes.
And whoever ascribes partners to Allah
has certainly strayed into far error.
117 They invoke none but females 1 besides Him,
and invoke none but a froward Satan,
118 whom Allah has cursed,
and who said, ‘I will surely take of Your servants
a settled share,
119 and I will lead them astray
and give them [false] hopes,
and prompt them to slit the ears of cattle,2
and I will prompt them to alter Allah’s creation.’
Whoever takes Satan as a guardian
instead of Allah
has certainly incurred a manifest loss.
120 He makes them promises
and gives them [false] hopes,
yet Satan does not promise them anything but delusion.
121 The refuge of such shall be hell,
and they will not find any escape from it.
122 But those who have faith
and do righteous deeds,
We will admit them into gardens
with streams running in them,
1 Most of the idols and deities worshipped by Arab pagans had female names, e.g. Lāt, Manāt, ‘Uzzā, Nā’ilah, etc.
2 This refers to the pagan practice of slitting the ears of camels as a sign of their dedication to pagan deities.
