and invocation as petition.

Allah Most High says:

“So do not invoke another deity alongside Allah, lest you be among those who are punished.”

He also says:

“Whoever invokes another deity alongside Allah, for which he has no proof, his reckoning rests only with his Lord. Indeed, the disbelievers will never prosper.”

And He says:

“Do not invoke another deity alongside Allah. There is no deity worthy of worship except Him.”

And He says:

“When the servant of Allah stood calling upon Him, they almost crowded around him in throngs.”

And He says:

“They invoke none besides Him but female deities, and they invoke none but a rebellious Satan.”

Allah Most High also says:

“To Him alone belongs the true invocation. Those whom they invoke besides Him do not respond to them at all. They are like someone stretching out his hands towards water for it to reach his mouth, but it will never reach it.”

And He says:

“Those who do not invoke another deity alongside Allah, nor kill a soul whom Allah has forbidden to be killed except by right, nor commit unlawful sexual intercourse.”

At the end of the surah, He says:

“Say, ‘My Lord would not care for you were it not for your invocation.’”

This has been interpreted as: “Were it not for your calling upon Him,” and also as: “Were it not for His calling you.” A verbal noun may be attributed either to its subject or to its object. Attributing it to its subject, however, is stronger, because it must necessarily have a subject. This is therefore the stronger of the two interpretations. That is, He would not care for you were it not that you call upon Him, worshipping Him and asking of Him.

“But you have denied, so the punishment will be inescapable.”

That is, an inescapable punishment for those who deny the truth. The word salāh (prayer) originally means invocation in Arabic. Prayer is called invocation because it encompasses the meaning of invocation: worship and petition.