يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَٱسْتَمِعُوا۟ لَهُۥٓ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا۟ ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ ٱجْتَمَعُوا۟ لَهُۥ ۖ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ ٱلذُّبَابُ شَيْـًٔا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ۚ ضَعُفَ ٱلطَّالِبُ وَٱلْمَطْلُوبُ
Y a ayyuh a a l nn a su d uriba mathalun fa i stamiAAoo lahu inna alla th eena tadAAoona min dooni All a hi lan yakhluqoo th ub a ban walawi ijtamaAAoo lahu wain yaslubuhumu a l thth ub a bu shayan l a yastanqi th oohu minhu d aAAufa a l tta libu wa a lma t loob u O MEN! A parable is set forth [herewith]; hearken, then, to it! Behold, those beings whom you invoke instead of God cannot create [as much as] a fly, even were they to join all their forces to that end! And if a fly robs them of anything, they cannot [even] rescue it from him! Weak indeed is the seeker, and [weak] the sought!
 - Mohammad Asad
O mankind! Here is an example for your understanding, so listen to it carefully. Those deities whom you call besides Allah, cannot create a single fly, even if they all combined their forces, rather, if a fly snatches away anything from them they cannot even get it back; how feebleminded are the suppliants and how powerless are those whom they supplicate!
 - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
O humanity! A lesson is set forth, so listen to it 'carefully': those 'idols' you invoke besides Allah can never create 'so much as' a fly, even if they 'all' were to come together for that. And if a fly were to snatch anything away from them, they cannot 'even' retrieve it from the fly. How powerless are those who invoke and those invoked!1
 - Mustafa Khattab
O mankind! A similitude is coined, so pay ye heed to it: Lo! those on whom ye call beside Allah will never create a fly though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly took something from them, they could not rescue it from him. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought!
 - Marmaduke Pickthall
O men! Here is a parable set forth! Listen to it! Those on whom besides Allah ye call cannot create (even) a fly if they all met together for the purpose! And if the fly should snatch away anything from them they would have no power to release it from the fly: feeble are those who petition and those whom they petition! 2855
 - Abdullah Yusuf Ali