Say, O Muhammad (s): ‘Praise be to God, for the destruction of the disbelievers of past communities, and peace be on His servants whom He has chosen’. Is God (read a-Allāhu, pronouncing both hamzas; or by substituting an alif for the second one; or by not pronouncing the second one but inserting an alif between the one not pronounced and the other one or without [such an insertion]) better, for those who worship Him, or the partners which they ascribe? (read [either] tushrikūna, ‘you ascribe’, or yushrikūna, ‘they ascribe’), [they being] the people of Mecca, [the partners they ascribe] to Him, in other words, are such gods better for those who worship them?