﴿ لَهُۥ دَعْوَةُ ٱلْحَقِّ ۖ وَٱلَّذِينَ يَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِهِۦ لَا يَسْتَجِيبُونَ لَهُم بِشَىْءٍ إِلَّا كَبَٰسِطِ كَفَّيْهِ إِلَى ٱلْمَآءِ لِيَبْلُغَ فَاهُ وَمَا هُوَ بِبَٰلِغِهِۦ ۚ وَمَا دُعَآءُ ٱلْكَٰفِرِينَ إِلَّا فِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ ﴾

“Unto Him [alone] is due all prayer aiming at the Ultimate Truth, since those [other beings or powers] whom men invoke instead of God cannot respond to them in any way - [so that he who invokes them is] but like one who stretches his open hands towards water, [hoping] that it will reach his mouth, the while it never reaches him. Hence, the prayer of those who deny the truth amounts to no more than losing oneself in grievous error.”

His exalted be He is the call of truth that is the words that constitute it the truth and these are ‘there is no god but God’ lā ilāha illā’Llāh; and those upon whom they call read yad‘ūn or tad‘ūn ‘you call’ those whom they worship apart from Him that is other than Him — namely the idols — do not answer them anything of which they ask; save as is the response to one who stretches forth his hands towards water at the edge of a well calling to it that it may reach his mouth by its rising through the well to reach him but it would never reach it that is reach his mouth ever likewise they the idols will not answer them; and the call of the disbelievers their worship of idols — or their actual supplication — goes only astray it is only in perdition.