Overall meaning : The Almighty says: Say, Muhammad, ‘Praise be to Allah alone, and His peace be upon His servants whom He has chosen, saved from torment and protected against faults and sins.’ Ask your idolatrous people, ‘Which is better: Allah who has the attributes of perfection and majesty or the false gods that do neither harm nor good and which they associate with Him? Which is better: your gods, in which there is no good at all, or Allah who has created the heavens and the earth, and sends down for you rain from the clouds, with which He causes gardens of delightful beauty to grow? It is not in your power to make their trees grow! Is there another god besides Allah who can do the same thing so that you may worship it besides Him?! No indeed. They acknowledge all that and admit that there is no deity besides Allah, yet they make other deities His equals even though they know deep down that Allah is the sole Creator!
‘Which is better: your helpless, false gods or Allah who has made the earth a stable ground, caused rivers to run in its midst, set upon it firm mountains to stabilize it and has placed, by His power, a barrier between the salty seas and freshwater rivers, so that their waters do not mix?! Is there another god besides Allah who can do the same thing so that you may worship it besides Him?! No indeed, yet most of them do not know their duty towards Allah!
‘Which is better: your helpless, false gods or Allah who responds to the distressed when they call out to Him, removes harm and distress if He so wills, and makes you succeed one another, generation after generation on earth?! Is there another god besides Allah who can do the same thing so that you may worship it besides Him?! Little indeed do you remember Allah’s greatness and favours to you!
‘Which is better: your helpless, false gods or Allah who guides you in the darkness of land and sea with the landmarks and the various other means of orientation He has created for you, and who sends winds heralding the good news of rain, which is part of His mercy towards you?! Is there another god besides Allah who can do the same thing so that you may worship it besides Him?! High Exalted is Allah above those you associate with Him!
‘Which is better: your helpless, false gods or Allah who creates every being in the first instance, then after their death He brings them back to life on Resurrection Day, and who gives you sustenance from the heavens and the earth?! Is there another god besides Allah who can do the same thing so that you may worship it besides Him?!’
Say, Muhammad, to these idolaters, ‘Produce your evidence of the validity of your worshipping others besides Allah if what you claim is true