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Surah 4. An-Nisaa', Ayah 48

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إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يَغْفِرُ أَن يُشْرَكَ بِهِۦ وَيَغْفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَمَن يُشْرِكْ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدِ ٱفْتَرَىٰٓ إِثْمًا عَظِيمًا
Inna All a ha l a yaghfiru an yushraka bihi wayaghfiru m a doona tha lika liman yash a o waman yushrik bi A ll a hi faqadi iftar a ithman AAa th eem a n
VERILY, God does not forgive the ascribing of divinity to aught beside Him, although He forgives any lesser sin64 unto whomever He wills: for he who ascribes divinity to aught beside God has indeed contrived an awesome sin.65
  - Mohammad Asad

Lit., "anything below that".

The continuous stress, in the Qur'an, on God's transcendental oneness and uniqueness aims at freeing man from all sense of dependence on other influences and powers, and thus at elevating him spiritually and bringing about the "purification" alluded to in the next verse. Since this objective is vitiated by the sin of shirk ("the ascribing of divine qualities to aught beside God") the Qur'an describes it as "unforgivable" so long as it is persisted in, i.e., unless and until the sinner repents (cf. verses {17} and {18} of this surah).

Surely Allah does not forgive shirk (associating any partner with Him); and may forgive sins other than that if He so pleases. This is because one who commits shirk with Allah, does indeed invent a great sinful lie.
  - Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik
Indeed, Allah does not forgive associating others with Him 'in worship',1 but forgives anything else of whoever He wills. And whoever associates others with Allah has indeed committed a grave sin.
  - Mustafa Khattab

 A person will never be forgiven if they die as a disbeliever. But if they repent before their death and mend their ways, then their repentance will be accepted (see 25:68-70).

Lo! Allah forgiveth not that a partner should be ascribed unto Him. He forgiveth (all) save that to whom He will. Whoso ascribeth partners to Allah, he hath indeed invented a tremendous sin.
  - Marmaduke Pickthall
Allah forgiveth not that partners should be set up with him; but He forgiveth anything else to whom He pleaseth; to set up partners with Allah is to devise a sin most heinous indeed. 569
  - Abdullah Yusuf Ali

Just as in an earthly kingdom the worst crime is that of treason, as it cuts at the very existence of the State, so in the Divine Kingdom, the unforgivable sin is that of contumacious treason against Allah by putting up Allah's creatures in rivalry against Him. This is rebellion against the Creator. It is what Plato would call the "lie in the soul." But even here, if the rebellion is through ignorance, and is followed by sincere repentance and amendment, Allah's Mercy is always open (iv. 17).

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