بِسمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحمـٰنِ الرَّحيمِ قُل يا أَيُّهَا الكافِرونَ

SAY: O you who deny the truth!

لا أَعبُدُ ما تَعبُدونَ

I do not worship that which you worship,

وَلا أَنتُم عابِدونَ ما أَعبُدُ

and neither do you worship that which I worship!¹

1. 1.  In the above rendering, the particle ma ("that which") alludes, on the one hand, to all positive concepts and ethical values - e.g., belief in God and the believer's self-surrender to Him - and, on the other, to false objects of worship and false values, such as man's belief in his own supposed "self-sufficiency" (cf. 96:6), or his overriding, almost compulsive "greed for more and more" (surah 102).

وَلا أَنا عابِدٌ ما عَبَدتُم

And I will not worship ~hat which you have [ever] worshipped,

وَلا أَنتُم عابِدونَ ما أَعبُدُ

and neither will you [ever] worship that which I worship.²

1. 2.  Sc., "so long as you are unwilling to abandon the false values which cause you to deny the truth ".

لَكُم دينُكُم وَلِيَ دينِ

Unto you, your moral law, and unto me, mine !³

1. 3.  Lit., "unto me, my moral law". The primary significance of din is "obedience"; in particular, obedience to a law or to what is conceived as a system of established - and therefore binding - usages, i.e., something endowed with moral authority: hence "religion", "faith.' or "religious law" in the widest sense of these terms (cf. first half of note 249 on 2:256); or simply "moral law", as in the above instance as well as in 42:21, 95:7, 98:5 or 107:1.