أَفَمَنْ هُوَ قَائِمٌ عَلَى كُلِّ نَفْسٍ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ وَجَعَلُوا لِلَّهِ شُرَكَاءَ قُلْ سَمُّوهُمْ أَمْ تُنَبِّئُونَهُ بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُ فِي الْأَرْضِ أَمْ بِظَاهِرٍ مِنَ الْقَوْلِ بَلْ زُيِّنَ لِلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مَكْرُهُمْ وَصُدُّوا عَنِ السَّبِيلِ وَمَنْ يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَمَا لَهُ مِنْ هَادٍ ﴿۳۳﴾

﴾33﴿ Afaman Huwa qaaa'imun 'alaa kulli nafsim bimaa kasabat; wa ja'aloo lillaahi shurakaaa'a qul samoohum; am tunabbi'oona hoo bimaa laa ya'lamu fil ardi; am bizaahirim minal qawl; bal zuyyina lillazeena kafaroo makruhum wa suddoo 'anis sabeel; wa mai yudlilil laahu famaa lahoo min haad;

﴾33﴿ Is then He who oversees every soul and what it earns (like those who are powerless)? Yet they have set up partners with Allah. Say, "Show me their attributes! Or do you inform Allah of something He does not know on earth, or is it mere talk?" Rather, their evil deeds have been made attractive to the disbelievers, and they have been turned away from the right path. And whomever Allah leads astray, there is no guide for them

[33] From this verse up to verse 37 is the fifth section (باب پنجم). The structure of this section is as follows:
In verse 33, there is the thirteenth rational argument along with a rebuke to the polytheists. Verse 34 contains a warning. Verse 35 brings glad tidings. Verse 36 presents a scriptural (naqli) proof directed toward the People of the Book, based on revelation. Verse 37 is an encouragement to reflect on the Qur’an.
Verse 33: It begins with a rational argument, followed by a rebuke to the polytheists. “قَائِمٌ” can mean the One who manages and governs the affairs of people, or the One who is fully aware of their actions. The apodosis (jawab) of the conditional sentence is omitted but understood as: Is the one who is like that the same as the one who is not?
“سَمُّوهُمْ” – Name them: This is a challenge to the polytheists to describe the attributes and perfections of the ones they claim as deities, which would make them deserving of divinity.
“بِمَا لَا يَعْلَمُ فِي الْأَرْضِ” – Meaning: Allah knows of no partners on earth, and you are informing Him that He has partners? Here, lack of knowledge is a metaphor for non-existence — i.e., no such partners exist.
The phrase “فِي الْأَرْضِ” (on earth) is used specifically because this verse refutes those who assign earthly partners to Allah. In Surah Yunus (10:28), both heaven and earth are mentioned to include all types of polytheists.
“أَمْ بِظَاهِرٍ مِّنَ الْقَوْلِ” – “Or is it based on outward words?”: That is, mere surface-level speech, with no basis in truth or reason, which is false and baseless.
“مَكْرُهُمْ” – Refers to their deceptive and misguided practices rooted in shirk. “وَصُدُّوا” – This is a result clause (ma‘toof al-mujāzāt), meaning as a result of their plotting and behavior, they turned people away from the truth.