He propounds unto you a parable drawn from your own life: Would you [agree to] have some of those whom your right hands possess as [full-fledged] partners in whatever We may have bestowed upon you as sustenance, so that you [and they] would have equal shares in it, and you would fear [to make use of it without consulting] them, just as you might fear [the more powerful of] your equals? Thus clearly do We spell out these messages unto people who use their reason. 28 But nay - they who are bent on evildoing follow but their own desires, without having any knowledge (of the truth). And who could guide those whom God has [thus] let go astray, and who (thereupon) have none to succour them? 29 Therefore set your face to the religion purely, the upright creation upon which He originated people. There is no changing of the creation of Allah. This is the valuable religion, although most people do not know? 30 ۞ [Turn, then, away from all that is false,] turning unto Him [alone]; and remain conscious of Him, and be constant in prayer, and be not among those who ascribe divinity to aught beside Him, 31 even of those who have divided up their religion, and become sects, each several party rejoicing in what is theirs. 32 And when harm touches men, they cry sincerely only to their Lord (Allah), turning to Him in repentance, but when He gives them a taste of His Mercy, behold! a party of them associate partners in worship with their Lord. 33 and are ungrateful for what We have given them. So enjoy yourselves for a while, but soon you will come to know. 34 Or have We revealed to them a Scripture, which speaks of that which they have been associating with Him? 35 And when We let men taste mercy, they rejoice in it; but if some evil befalls them for that their own hands have forwarded, behold, they despair. 36 Do they not see that Allah outspreads and restricts His provision to whom He will? Surely, there are signs in this for those who believe. 37 So give his due to the near of kin, and to the needy, and to the wayfarer. That is better for those who desire to please Allah. It is they who will prosper. 38 Whatever you pay as interest so that it may increase the wealth of people does not increase in the sight of Allah. As for the Zakah that you give, seeking with it Allah's good pleasure, that is multiplied manifold. 39 IT IS GOD who has created you, and then has provided you with sustenance, and then will cause you to die, and then will bring you to life again. Can any of those beings or powers to whom you ascribe a share in His divinity do any of these things? Limitless is He in His glory, and sublimely exalted above anything to which men may ascribe a share in His divinity! 40