Generally Accepted Translations of the Meaning
Muhammad Asad
[By behaving thus,] he invokes, instead of God, something that can neither harm nor benefit him: [and] this is indeed the utmost one can go astray
M. M. Pickthall
He calleth, beside Allah, unto that which hurteth him not nor benefiteth him. That is the far error
Yusuf Ali (Saudi Rev. 1985)
They call on such deities, besides Allah, as can neither hurt nor profit them: that is straying far indeed (from the Way)
The Clear Quran, Dr. Mustafa Khattab
They call besides Allah what can neither harm nor benefit them. That is ˹truly˺ the farthest one can stray.
Safi Kaskas
Instead of God, he calls upon what can neither harm him nor benefit him. That is the ultimate misguidance.
Wahiduddin Khan
He calls on, instead of God, something that can neither harm him, nor benefit him. That is indeed straying far awa
Shakir
He calls besides Allah upon that which does not harm him and that which does not profit him, that is the great straying
Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar
He calls to other than God what neither hurts him nor profits him. That, it is a far wandering astray.
T.B.Irving
He appeals to something that neither harms him nor yet benefits him, instead of to God. That is extreme error;
Abdul Hye
Then he calls (other deities) besides Allah which neither hurt, nor profit. That is a deviation far away (from the Right Way).
The Study Quran
He calls, apart from God, upon that which neither harms him nor benefits him. That is extreme error
Talal Itani & AI (2024)
He prays to, instead of God, what neither harms nor benefits him. That is straying far.
Talal Itani (2012)
He invokes, instead of God, what can neither harm him nor benefit him. That is the far straying
Dr. Kamal Omar
He invokes besides Allah that which harms him not and that which benefits him not. This one: it is the straying, far and remote
Then instead of Allah, he starts calling those deities who can neither harm nor help him; now that is going too far off in deviation from the Right Way
Muhammad Mahmoud Ghali
He invokes, apart from Allah, that which does not harm him and which neither profits him (anything); that is the thing that is in far error
Muhammad Sarwar
They worship things instead of God which can neither harm them nor benefit them. This is indeed to stray far away from the right path
Muhammad Taqi Usmani
He prays to someone, instead of Allah, who can neither harm him nor benefit him. That is the error that takes him too far from the right path
Shabbir Ahmed
He calls on, instead of Allah, that which neither can harm him nor benefit him. This is indeed the utmost one can go astray
Dr. Munir Munshey
Instead of Allah, they pray to such deities that can inflict no harm, and award no benefits. That is surely the worst kind of misguidance
Syed Vickar Ahamed
He (in disbelief) calls on other gods besides Allah, (those) who can neither harm nor help him: Truly, that is going far away (from the right)
He invokes instead of Allah that which neither harms him nor benefits him. That is what is the extreme error
[The Monotheist Group] (2011 Edition)
He calls upon besides God what will not harm him and what will not benefit him. Such is the far straying
Abdel Haleem
Instead of God, they call upon what can neither harm nor help them- that is straying far away
Abdul Majid Daryabadi
He calleth upon that, beside Allah, which can neither hurt him nor profit him! that! it is a straying far-off
Ahmed Ali
Leaving God they pray to those who cannot harm or profit them. That is the limit of going astray
Aisha Bewley
Instead of Allah, he calls on something which cannot harm him or help him. That is extreme misguidance.
Ali Ünal
He invokes, apart from God, that which can neither harm nor benefit him. That indeed is straying very far away
Ali Quli Qara'i
He invokes besides Allah that which can bring him neither benefit nor harm. That is extreme error
Hamid S. Aziz
He calls, besides Allah, on what can neither harm him nor profit him - that is a wide error
Ali Bakhtiari Nejad
He calls on other than God, something (or someone) that does not harm him and does not benefit him. That is the major error.
A.L. Bilal Muhammad et al (2018)
They call on such deities besides God, who can neither hurt nor profit them. That is straying far indeed
Musharraf Hussain
Instead of Allah they call on what cannot harm or benefit them. That’s straying far away.
Maududi
He invokes, instead of Allah, those who can neither harm nor benefit him. That indeed is straying far away
[The Monotheist Group] (2013 Edition)
He calls upon besides God what will not harm him and what will not benefit him. Such is the far straying
Mohammad Shafi
He prays to someone — other than Allah — who can neither harm nor benefit him. That is going far, far astray
Controversial or status undetermined works
Ahmed Raza Khan (Barelvi)
They worship beside Allah such that which can neither do neither bad nor good to them. This is indeed straying a-far.
He idolizes beside GOD what possesses no power to harm him or benefit him; such is the real straying.
Hasan Al-Fatih Qaribullah
He calls to other than Allah, to that which neither hurts him, nor benefits him; that is indeed far error
Maulana Muhammad Ali
He calls besides Allah on that which harms him not, nor benefits him; that is straying far
Muhammad Ahmed & Samira
He calls from other than God what does not harm him and what does not benefit him, that (is) the misguidance thefar/distant
Bijan Moeinian
The real looser is the one who worships other than God (in any form or shape.) That is because, such idols can neither help him nor inflict a harm upon him (what a waste of time to worship it then.
Faridul Haque
They worship such, beside Allah, which neither harms them nor benefits them; this only is the extreme error
Sher Ali
He calls beside ALLAH on that which can neither harm him nor benefit him. That is indeed straying far away
Dr. Mohammad Tahir-ul-Qadri
(Such a person) worships besides Allah that (idol) which can neither harm nor bring him benefit. That is indeed straying (quite) far off
Amatul Rahman Omar
He calls, apart from Allah, upon the things which can do him neither harm nor good. That, indeed, is straying far away
Muhsin Khan & Muhammad al-Hilali
He calls besides Allah unto that which hurts him not, nor profits him. That is a straying far away
New, Partial, or In Progress Translations
Fode Drame
He calls besides Allah that which does not harm him neither does it benefit him. That is the misguidance far astray.
Munir Mezyed
Instead of Allâh, he calls upon that which can neither harm nor benefit him. That is the extreme deviation from the plain path of truth.
Sahib Mustaqim Bleher
He calls besides Allah on what does neither harm nor benefit him - that is the extensive error.
Linda “iLHam” Barto
Instead of on Allah, he/she calls on (false idols) that can neither harm nor profit him/her. That is wandering too far indeed!
Fadel Soliman, Bridges‘ Translation
Apart from Allah, he calls upon what can neither harm him nor benefit him; that is the extreme misguidance.
Irving & Mohamed Hegab
He appeals to something that neither harms him nor yet benefits him, instead of to Allah (God). That is extreme loss;
Samy Mahdy
He calls, without Allah, what is neither harming him nor benefiting him. That is the farthest astray.
Sayyid Qutb
He invokes, instead of God, something that can neither harm nor benefit him. This is the utmost that one can go astray.
Ahmed Hulusi
He turns to things besides Allah, which neither benefit him nor harm him... This is a real deviation (from the Truth)!
Sayyed Abbas Sadr-Ameli
He calls, besides Allah, upon that which does not harm him and that which does not profit him: that is indeed the far straying
He erroneously invokes besides Allah objects unable to harm him nor profit him and this is perversion in the extreme
Mir Aneesuddin
Besides Allah he prays to that which neither harms him nor benefits him, that is going far astray.
The Wise Quran
He calls, besides God on what neither harms him nor profits him; that, it is the far error.